Abigail's Party - 1977 ***

I was expecting this to be far funnier than it was. Alison Steadman is great and to be honest there was nothing actually wrong with the characters, it was just such a bleak and awful drama that you finished watching it with a sigh of relief. Mike Leigh isn't exactly known for cheerful and positive playwriting but even so I wasn't expecting to be depressed for the rest of the evening. Abigail's Party is not the actual get together that we see in the film, it's the party of the daughter of one of Beverley's (Steadman) guests that is happening below. It's weird and rather ominous, with a lot of loose ends that don't get resolved and a horrible ending.