Abigail's Party

Beverley is married to Lawrence, a 'get-up-and-go' estate agent.  They have a nice home in affluent suburbia - but he works so hard, he seldom finds time to enjoy it.  Beverley, on the other hand, has little else to do but patrol her plush domain.  It is Saturday evening and Beverley has invited her new neighbours in for drinks.  Also included at the party is another neighbour, Susan, whose teenage daughter Abigail is giving a party just down the road.

The play provides rich insights into English lower middle class life which is alternatively funny, pathetic and horrifying - the goodwill, cliches and fatuous small talk gradually give way to the marital strains that abound and there are also Susan's tensions over what may be happening at the party down the road.  Drink loosens tongues and the in-fighting becomes more pointed and vicious and finally the tension snaps.