{"id":6254,"date":"2013-06-04T17:53:15","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T00:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=6254"},"modified":"2013-06-04T17:53:15","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T00:53:15","slug":"abigails-party-explores-lifes-values-at-sf-playhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/abigails-party-explores-lifes-values-at-sf-playhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Abigail\u2019s Party Explores Life\u2019s Values at SF Playhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wife, Bev (Susi Damilano) is threatened by husband Laurence (Remi Sandri).\u00a0Photo by Jessica Palopoli.<\/p>\n

Abigail\u2019s Party<\/em> is a play written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a suburban situation comedy of manners and a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle-class that emerged in Britain in the 1970\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The place is \u201cthe London side of Essex\u201d according to Leigh. Beverly Moss (Susi Damilano) invites her new neighbors Angela (Allison Jean White) and Tony (Patrick Kelly Jones) who moved onto her street two weeks ago over for drinks.\u00a0 She has also invited her neighbor Sue (Julia Brothers), divorced for 3 years, whose 15 year-old daughter, Abigail is holding a party at her home.\u00a0 Beverly\u2019s husband Laurence (Remi Sandri) comes home late from work, just before the guests arrive.\u00a0 The gathering starts off in a stiff, insensitive British middle-class way as the strangers tentatively gather until Beverly and Laurence start sniping at each other.\u00a0 As Beverly serves more drinks and the alcohol takes effect, Beverly flirts more and more overtly with Tony as Laurence sits impassively by.\u00a0 Within this simple framework, all of the obsessions, prejudices, fears and petty competitiveness of the protagonists are ruthlessly exposed.<\/p>\n

Sue represents the middle-class being the ex-wife of an architect and living in one of the older homes on the street.\u00a0 She also brings a bottle of wine and has not yet eaten, indicating she expects dinner as opposed to just drinks.\u00a0 The others present have already had their tea.\u00a0\u00a0 Beverly and Laurence represent the aspirations of the lower middle-class and Tony and Angela, the new arrivals are also lower, middle-class, but Tony is less successful than Laurence.\u00a0 Despite their similar background, Laurence seeks to differentiate himself from Tony by highlighting the differences in their general level of culture and makes condescending comments towards him.<\/p>\n

Director Amy Glazer and her strong cast caught the mood and style just about perfectly.\u00a0 In the role of Beverly, Susi Damilano was able to indulge herself in this gem of a role as she moved seamlessly from a snobby, flirtatious hostess to bullied wife with equal assurance. Remi Sandri delivers the downtrodden, yet superior Laurence very effectively.\u00a0 His frustrations were convincing as his temper brewed and was finally unleashed he did not hold back. The part of Angela was brought to life by Allison Jean White. She brought out the humor and innocence in her role with ease.\u00a0 Patrick Kelly Jones\u2019 performance as Angela\u2019s husband Tony was appealing with his economy of words.\u00a0 Julia Brothers turns in a wonderful comedic performance as Sue, Abigail\u2019s worried mother.<\/p>\n

According to Artistic Director Bill English, who also designed the marvelous set, \u201cMike Leigh is most interested in what this consuming desire for one-upmanship and keeping up with the Joneses does to our humanity\u2026how coming out on top and feeling superior to others diminishes us\u2014when we think we\u2019ve won, we\u2019ve really lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abigail\u2019s Party<\/em> plays at SF Playhouse, May 21-July 6, 2013.\u00a0 Performances are Tuesday-Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 p.m.\u00a0 The SF Playhouse is located at 450 Post Street (2nd<\/sup> floor, Kensington Park Hotel b\/n Powell and Mason), San Francisco.\u00a0 For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coming up next at SF Playhouse will be Camelot <\/em>by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music), directed by Bill English, July 16-September 14, 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wife, Bev (Susi Damilano) is threatened by husband Laurence (Remi Sandri).\u00a0Photo by Jessica Palopoli. Abigail\u2019s Party is a play written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-flora-lynn-isaacson"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"