A cheesy pineapple one, Tone?
The Frockers are no strangers to the Seventies and we well remember the first screening of Abigail’s Party in 1977. Back then, we were just a few years older than the teenage Abigail, whose party had prompted Beverly Moss, played by Alison Steadman, to host her own social gathering of neighbours.
We happened recently to catch a few clips of the play on youtube, which got us feeling all nostalgic about the 70s. Although the decade is oft slated by today’s fashion police, there was something exciting about growing up then and experimenting with the way-out styles and garish colours that defined the era.
So we thought we would celebrate Abigail’s Party by revisiting the fashion statements of the time when over the top maxi dresses, sparkly sequins, lurid lurex and over stated jewellery were de rigueur for the house parties that were held in middle class, social climbing, late 70s suburbia.
On such occasions, you were likely to be served cocktails and canapés, cheese, pineapple and/or sausages on sticks along with liberal quantities of twiglets and crisps, all the while making inane conversation with the dulcet tones of Demis Roussos adding to the ambience. Alternatively, on the dinner party menu, you might find prawn cocktail, chicken curry (if not served in a basket!) and baked Alaska (or perhaps some of these tantalising delights?) created by aspiring middle class wives seeking to outdo each other on the culinary front with their new fangled kitchen gadgets. All would naturally be dressed to kill in highly dubious shades of orange and brown, often with hideous patterns to clash with the wallpaper!
We happened recently to catch a few clips of the play on youtube, which got us feeling all nostalgic about the 70s. Although the decade is oft slated by today’s fashion police, there was something exciting about growing up then and experimenting with the way-out styles and garish colours that defined the era.
So we thought we would celebrate Abigail’s Party by revisiting the fashion statements of the time when over the top maxi dresses, sparkly sequins, lurid lurex and over stated jewellery were de rigueur for the house parties that were held in middle class, social climbing, late 70s suburbia.
On such occasions, you were likely to be served cocktails and canapés, cheese, pineapple and/or sausages on sticks along with liberal quantities of twiglets and crisps, all the while making inane conversation with the dulcet tones of Demis Roussos adding to the ambience. Alternatively, on the dinner party menu, you might find prawn cocktail, chicken curry (if not served in a basket!) and baked Alaska (or perhaps some of these tantalising delights?) created by aspiring middle class wives seeking to outdo each other on the culinary front with their new fangled kitchen gadgets. All would naturally be dressed to kill in highly dubious shades of orange and brown, often with hideous patterns to clash with the wallpaper!
Those were the days, my friends (as Mary Hopkin once sang), but 30+ years later, Abigail’s Party themed parties are still popular as a new generation of aficionados re-enact scenes from the play and utter some of Beverly's most iconic lines: “I’ve got very beautiful lips” or “A little cheesy pineapple one, Tone?” Move over, Trekkies, you've been Tangoed by Beverly's orange frock!
