Abigail's Party is a
play for stage and
television devised and directed in 1977 by
Mike Leigh. It is a
suburban situation comedy of manners, and a
satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new
middle class that emerged in
Britain in the 1970s. The play developed in lengthy improvisations during which Mike Leigh explored the characters with the
actors, but did not always reveal the incidents that would occur during the play. The production opened in April 1977 at the
Hampstead Theatre, and returned after its initial run in the summer of 1977, 104 performances in all. A recording was arranged at the
BBC as a
Play for Today, produced by Margaret Matheson for
BBC Scotland and transmitted in November 1977.