Nadia Fall Archives - The Play Podcast

084 – Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh

by Douglas Schatz | Sep 27, 2024 | Podcast Episodes

Abigail’s Party
Theatre Royal Straford East
Tamsin Outhwaite as Beverly
Kevin Bishop as Laurence
Ashna Rabheru as Angela
September 2024

084 – Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Beverly and Laurence live in a suburb on the eastern outskirts of London. They are hosting a drinks party. ostensibly to welcome their new neighbours to the street, but also to show off their house, for Beverly is certainly house proud, having acquired the material accoutrements of the middle-class life she has aspired to. The evening does not pan out as planned, however. Under the carefully constructed social veneer, darker realities of Laurence and Beverly’s life together smolder and finally erupt in a shocking denouement.

This is the iconic 1970s period drama, Abigail’s Party, written by playwright and filmmaker Mike Leigh. The play’s portrait of Laurence and Beverly’s vain social pretensions is both hugely funny and excruciating to witness, as is the cruelty and despair that underly their behaviour. Leigh himself called the play a “tragi-comedy”.

Abigail’s Party was first performed at the Hampstead Theatre in London in April 1977, and then famously broadcast as a Play for Today on BBC1 later the same year, with Alison Steadman reprising her performance as the domineering, yet vulnerable, hostess, Beverly. The play has been a staple of amateur and professional theatre ever since, popularly renowned for its iconic snapshot of the material and social fabric of its time. As we record this episode a vibrant new production of the play is on stage at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, directed by the theatre’s Artistic Director, Nadia Fall.

I’m delighted to welcome Nadia to the podcast to talk us through this classic of British theatre.

Nadia Fall

Nadia Fall has been the Artistic Director at Stratford East for the past seven years, during which time her directing credits include Conor McPherson’s Shining City, The Village by April De Angelis, and King Hedley II by August Wilson with Lenny Henry, to name but a few. Previously she was an Associate Director at the National Theatre, where her productions included Inua Ellams African update of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Our Country’s Good, Dara and Chewing Gum Dreams, with Michaela Cole, as well as her own play, Home.

As from January 2025 Nadia will be the new Artistic Director of the Young Vic theatre in London.

Recommended Play

Nadia recommended the plays of George Bernard Shaw.

Become a Patron!

Since I launched The Play Podcast in April 2020, I have managed to eschew any form of advertising or sponsorship, and I would like to continue to produce the podcast without doing so. I therefore invite you to help me to continue to make the podcast by becoming a Patron. Additional benefits available to Patrons include Footnotes on the plays covered in the podcast, as well as early access to The Play Review. For details click here Thank you very much for listening and for your support. Douglas

The Texts

If you are interested in buying the play text or other related books, we’d be delighted if you choose to purchase them from our selected partners Bookshop.org and Blackwell’s. Not only will you be supporting independent booksellers, we will also earn a small commission on every book you purchase, which helps to keep the podcast going. Click on the cover to buy from our chosen partner. Thank you.

115 – The Dance of Death by August Strindberg

Oct 6, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death is set in a remote army base on the coast of Sweden, where an army captain and his wife are trapped together in an unhappy marriage. The captain, bitter at his lack of promotion, and his wife, frustrated at having been forced to give up her career as an actress, occupy their empty hours tearing into each other in a brutal dance of mutual cruelty.

Strindberg’s scorching portrait of marital strife was written in 1900, but has had a lasting influence. Arthur Miller dubbed Strindberg, “the mad inventor of modern theatre”, and echoes of his unflinching dissection of marital discord can be seen in the plays of Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and John Osborne.

Sir Richard Eyre adapted and directed a wonderful production of Dance of Death at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames earlier this year, and I am delighted that Sir Richard joins me in this episode to guide us through Strindberg’s blistering onslaught on marriage.

114 – Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare

Sep 22, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is described on the title page in the first publication of its text in 1598 as “A Pleasant Conceited Comedie.” I imagine that the epithets were intended to highlight the play’s courtly aesthetic, its frothy merry-go-round of courtship, and above all perhaps, its ostentatiously intricate word play. For it is a play rich in the love and perils of language.

I am joined to assay Shakespeare’s conceited comedy by the Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, Tom Littler. In the summer of 2026 Tom adapted and directed a magical double bill of Shakespeare, producing Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing in repertory, and staging them both ‘en plein air’.

113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Aug 24, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia, is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.

As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.

Nadia Fall

by Douglas Schatz | Sep 26, 2024 | Contributor

Nadia Fall

Nadia Fall is the Artistic Director of Stratford East.

As Director, theatre credits include: Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh, Village Idiot by Samson Hawkins, Shining City by Conor McPherson, The Village by April De Angelis, King Hedley II by August Wilson and The Sun the Moon, And the Stars by Dipo Baruwa-Etti (Stratford East); Three Sisters by Inua Ellams, The Suicide by Suhayla El-Bushra, Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Dara by Tanya Ronder, Chewing Gum Dreams by Micaela Coel, Home by Nadia Fall, Hymn by Alan Bennett and The Doctor’s Dilemma by George Bernard Shaw (National Theatre); Her Naked Skin (NT 100th anniversary of women’s vote) by Rebecca Lenkiewicz; Hir by Taylor Mac and Disgraced by Ayad Akhthar (Bush Theatre); R and D by Simon Vinnicombe (Hampstead Theatre); Way Upstream by Alan Ayckbourn (Chichester Festival Theatre); Hobson’s Choice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); How Was It For You? (Unicorn Theatre); Sticks & Stones (Polka Theatre); The Maids by Jean Genet (Lyric Hammersmith); Wild Turkey by Joe Penhall (Site Specific) and Miss Julie by August Wilson (Croydon Warehouse Theatre/White Bear).
As Associate Director, credits include: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Gielgud Theatre); Collaborators and The Habit of Art (National Theatre).

TV credits include: The Outside Dog by Alan Bennett for Talking Heads (BBC One); No Masks by Nadia Fall and Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Sky Arts).
Radio credits include: Welcome to Iran by Nadia Fall (BBC Radio 3).
Writing includes: Welcome to Iran and Home.

She trained at Goldsmiths College, University of London (MA Directing) and on the National Theatre Studio’s Directors programme. She was a Sky Arts Ambassador for Theatre 2021-2023.

She has directed at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and led participation initiatives with partners such as the Young Vic, Clean Break, Soho Theatre and the Royal Court.

Nadia’s debut feature film as director, BRIDES, is in post-production. Backed by BFI and Ffilm Cymru Wales, the film is a UK / Italian co-production helmed by Oscar-nominated producer Nicky Bentham, and stars newcomer Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar (Layla, The Witcher). It was chosen as part of Great 8 2024, British Titles set for Cannes.

As from January 2025, Nadia will be the new Artistic Director of the Young Vic theatre.

Podcast Episode(s)

084 - Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh

Recommended Play(s)

Nadia recommended the plays of George Bernard Shaw.