Did Critics Have a Blast at Abigail's Party at the New Group?

Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party is very well known in London, but it has never had a major New York staging. That is until now. The New Group is currently presenting the dark piece, headlined by film star Jennifer Jason Leigh, at off-Broadway's Acorn Theatre. The limited engagement, scheduled to run through January 7, officially opened on December 1. Did critics think the nasty tale had some bite?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

William Stevenson in his Broadway.com Review: “Leigh builds the action to a dramatic crescendo, which Elliott and his cast execute beautifully. Actually, the actors are wonderful from beginning to end. Their working-class English accents are credible, thanks in part to dialect coach Stephen Gabis. And, like the characters in Leigh's largely improvised films, the five characters here are extremely believable. Irritating, yes, but undeniably believable… Elliott, who is artistic director of the New Group, never lets the pace flag. It's easy to imagine a bad production of Abigail's Party, with lousy British accents and a slow tempo. Fortunately, Elliott's staging is spot-on. The groovy set by Derek McLane and costumes by Eric Becker also deserve mention.”

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: “As the holiday calendar begins to fill up, be sure to save an evening for Abigail's Party, the merry slice of misanthropy by Mike Leigh that opened last night at the Acorn Theater in a thoroughly delectable production from the director Scott Elliott… The nasal tang of Ms. Leigh's voice gives an extra coloring of abrasiveness to Beverly's streams of conversational banalities, and if her accent is not always as idiomatically correct as that of her co-stars, Ms. Leigh finds the precise physical mannerisms to communicate her character's exuberant vulgarity.”

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "There's a fine line between depicting boredom and ennui and embodying it, and this 1977 play by Mike Leigh crosses it repeatedly. Abigail's Party--about a group of middle-class, suburban Brits who've gathered together for an evening of booze and conviviality--all too accurately captures the pain of being trapped with boorish people you have no desire to know. By the time this party is over, you'll wish you'd never been invited."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "The five characters are all middle class but at different stages of comfort. For the most part, the actors do a marvelous job of conveying the nuances of these chipper suburbanites whose inner sadness and not-so-quiet desperation become more apparent as the evening wears on… Elliott has caught all the savage nuances Leigh describes in this chilling but funny party.”

David Rooney of Variety: “Mike Leigh's 1977 play remains a cruel and compelling comic horror show in New Group a.d. Scott Elliott's bristling, finely detailed staging, compromised only by a mannered star turn from Jennifer Jason Leigh… Overdressed in clingy, ostrich-trimmed hostess wear that looks like vintage Frederick's of Hollywood, with turquoise eyelids and cascades of curling-wanded hair, Beverly [Leigh] leaves no doubt that she's playing a part, even for herself. But when Leigh opens her mouth to speak in a reedy voice and an accent that ranges unevenly up and down the class scale, there's an abrasive, artificial-upon-artificial quality that immediately jars, only to worsen as the play goes on.”

Justin Bergman of The Associated Press: “The play remains a cutting commentary on British middle-class society, as well as a riveting character study wrought with tension. The new production, playing a limited run off-Broadway at the Acorn Theatre, also benefits from a strong cast led by Jennifer Jason Leigh, who embodies the manipulative and aspiring socialite Beverly with such gusto, she elicits laughs and uncomfortable groans from the audience the more awful her character becomes.”

Linda Winer of Newsday: “Jennifer Jason Leigh no relation to the playwright is slutty, screechy and purposefully over the top as Bev, the restlessly aging younger wife of Laurence… Elliott and set designer Derek McLane may have had too much fun finding artifacts from the '70s, a glee that lets us feel smug when we should be feeling pain. In the center, fortunately, is [Lisa] Emery as the dowdy, divorced, lonely Susan. Dressed with perfectly awkward pleats by Eric Becker, she maintains a magnificent, wounded dignity. With her nervous blink, her drooping neck, her intelligent face, she just might be the saddest woman we have ever loved onstage.”