It ends with a blast of Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants, but the song that resonates in Jack Bradfield’s production is Boredom by Buzzocks. Mike Leigh’s excruciating comedy of bad manners is the sound of the suburbs, the noise of people trying to fill a void.
The residents of Richmond Road, where Abigail, the 15-year-old punk, is throwing her party, have bought into a materialistic dream and found it wanting. They cling to what they can – cars, cocktail snacks, the complete works of Dickens – hoping to find solace in financial status, sex or a mysterious thing called art. Behind their polite chatter lie broken marriages, strained relationships and the suggestion of domestic violence. The comedy lies in their efforts to rein it all in.
