Brilliant Harrogate Theatre Rep offers a party to remember with new version of Mike Leigh classic

Three plays, three weeks, one cast and an opening production devoted to a much-loved British classic, it may be what proper theatre is about but no one ever said it was going to be easy.

But the end result can be – and usually is – highly enjoyable, especially when the audience at Harrogate Theatre is in the expert hands of director Marcus Romer and the talented Yorkshire-based cast put together by Phil & Ben Productions.

The return of rep at Harrogate Theatre for the third time since the heyday of the venue's legendary White Rose Players in the 1950s could scarcely have got off to a better start.

BAFTA Award winner Mike Leigh's partly-improvised 1977 play for stage and television isn't the most straightforward of scripts to tackle.

His hilarious but subtly complex comedy of manners as a small group of neighbours get together over drinks in a living room in the London suburbs is short on 'proper' speeches and long on brief, multi-character exchanges of innocuous dialogue masking nastier meanings.

Harrogate Theatre rep's unmissable new production, which runs until Saturday, could almost survive on 1970s nostalgia alone - the period furniture, the wonderful costumes, pitch-perfect lighting and classic songs of the time.

But the five-strong cast nail both the surface and depth of Leigh's genius from start to finish, brilliantly recreating what is surely the worst drinks and nibbles party in the history of the world.

Despite a fantastic performance by Katy Dean in the role of the party's host, the extravagantly dressed, cringingly flirtatious and relentlessly passive-aggressive Beverly Moss who is in love with Donna Summer, Elvis and Demis Roussos, it would be wrong to single out anyone for more praise than anyone else.

It’s not the British way, anyway…

This hugely entertaining ensemble piece boasts spot-on performances by one and all as relationships begin to fray and events take a sinister turn - Robin Simpson as aspirational but neurotic estate agent Laurence Moss, Janine Mellor as quiet divorcee Susan Lawson, Faye Weerasinghe as meek and mild nurse Angela Cooper and Paul Hawkyard as brutish, sexually aggressive computer operator Tony Cooper.

Most people know Abigail's Party through the BBC television version starring Alison Steadman.

But Harrogate Theatre rep surely not only lived up to traditions of the White Rose Players but also the standards of the original stage play performed for the first time at Hampstead Theatre on April 18, 1977.

A quietly confident and smart production, director Marcus Romer never loses sight of the fact Mike Leigh’s play is as much satire as sitcom.

In a week when the country’s thoughts are dominated by the passing of the Queen and the state funeral to come, Romer quietly captures the play's unspoken subtext, a Britain whose dreams are turning sour, on the cusp of a fractured future of right wing politics and righteous punk.

Now on to the next show!

Harrogate Theatre Rep presents Abigail's Party runs until Saturday, September 17.

The 202 rep continues at Harrogate Theatre with the following shows:

Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight, Tuesday, September 20-Saturday, September 24.

John Godber's Men of the World, Tuesday, September 27-Saturday, October 1.

For tickets, visit www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk

Please note, tickets holders get 20% off when they book seats for all three shows.