Abigail’s Party review – Tamzin Outhwaite’s Bev is Madame Bovary with a Cinzano

Harold Pinter theatre, London
Outhwaite’s performance as Beverly, a precision-tooled showcase in hidden anger and longing, is a triumph in this eternally resonant suburban drama

Alison Steadman has cast a long shadow over the suburban gargoyle-cum-bored-housewife in Mike Leigh’s social satire about 1970s social mobility. So much so that her name is almost always invoked in relation to Beverly. Tamzin Outhwaite’s incredible achievement is that she banishes Steadman’s original portrayal of Bev as the definitive one.

Having first assumed the role in Nadia Fall’s 2024 production, that history shows in her polish and command of the character. The setting is a cocktail party in Essex and Outhwaite’s Bev (glittering dress, Farrah Fawcett flicks) is full of lady-of-the-manor pretensions as she serves up her officious rounds of drink. But there is a hard, calculating edge to her marital digs at estate agent husband, Laurence (Kevin Bishop) and her crude flirtation with guest Tony (Omar Malik, fantastically laconic), which she conducts with flamboyant disregard for his wife, Angela (Lauren Patel).