I'm the lead actress in the highly anticipated Abigail's Party & I can't wait to see what Blackpool think

The iconic play Abigail’s Party is on at the Blackpool Grand Theatre between Tuesday, October 22 and Saturday, October 26. 

Our celebrity reporter, Aimee Seddon, had the pleasure to chat to actress Laura Rogers, who plays the lead Beverly Moss all about the play ahead of its arrival.

Find out what TV and stage star Laura had to say about Abigail’s Party, Blackpool and more below.

What is Abigail’s Party about?

“So it was written in- well, I say written, it was actually improvised originally- in the late 1970s and a group of actors, under the direction of Mike Lee, put it on at Hampstead Theatre, and it was Alison Steadman who played Beverly originally. 

“It's basically the worst party that you could ever possibly imagine. The mixture of guests are quite eclectic, and in usual circumstances, probably wouldn't really get on, and they're all trying really hard to get on, and it just goes pretty wrong from the beginning. So it's a comedy, it's really good fun. It's a dark comedy so there are quite dark elements in the storytelling, but a lot of laughs as well. 

“Abigail never features in our production or in any of the productions. Abigail is the daughter of one of the guests, and she's having a party a couple of houses away and so, in fact, yes, you never see Abigail, you just hear about her.”

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What is Beverly like and do you relate to her?

“Beverly is the hostess with the mostess, so she and her husband Laurence are hosting the party and I think, at the heart of it, she's incredibly lonely and really wants friends. Her husband works very hard, he's an estate agent, so they live in a lovely house, they've got state of the art of everything but she's given up her job, they don't have any children, and she's desperate to sort of show off everything that they have, and also desperate that everybody gets on. So she's plying everybody with alcohol and nibbles and trying to keep the conversation flowing, but it always ends up a bit of a lead balloon, they keep having to pick up the ball after dropping it like the conversations don't really go anywhere.

“And do I relate to her? Well, there are aspects of her personality that are really awful, but she's a people pleaser, and she is funny- but I don't think she's aware that she's funny. I know that a lot of people would think of her as a monster but I don't like to think of her as a monster because I think she is good natured, she's got a good heart, she just says the wrong thing.”

Do you have any nightmare dinner party stories you could share?

“The first day of rehearsal we were asked this and thankfully, I've not attended any terrible parties, and I haven't hosted any terrible parties either. But I have a bit of a dark tale that is related. I used to work on Borough Market, selling cheese, and one December, myself and my colleague, we'd only just met that day, were packing the cheese up, and the Christmas music was going so there was a festive party feel but that was on a day when there was a terrorist attack on London Bridge, and a stampede of people ran through the market so I grabbed my colleague and I shut us both in this big industrial fridge, which I thought was a good idea, but then we were stuck in there for an hour and a half, just us and a load of cheese, and had to wait until these armoured policemen released us.

“So that's not a funny story, it was actually quite an awful story, but in terms of getting into party mode, and then it turning into a very bad day. Had I realised that everybody else had just run in the direction of of the pub at the time? Thankfully my colleague, we're still friends now. I mean, if you've been locked in a fridge with somebody for an hour and a half on a very cold day, I think you have a bond for life after that.”

Well, I hope Blackpool is disaster free! So how are you feeling about bringing Abigail's Party up to Blackpool?

“Oh, we're so excited. I've never been to Blackpool. I really can't wait to get there. I hear the theatre is beautiful, and I'm looking forward to going to the Pleasure Beach and seeing all the sights. And of course, it's where Strictly comes every year- I don't think we're on at the same time as Strictly- but also the illuminations. I've got loads of good tips of where I need to go and what I need to do. So we're hoping we get all the lovely audiences to come and see it. If you want a really fun night out, you should just definitely, definitely come along!”

Although you've not performed in Blackpool before, do you have an expectation of what the audiences are like?

“Yeah, I hope they're going to be really good fun. We've already done it in Newcastle and the northerners have a brilliant sense of humour, so we got such a warm reception from them, and so I'm just really excited to see how they [Lancastrians] receive it, really. The original play was set somewhere in Essex, and Alison Steadman, who played my part, created a sort of legendary figure so when I got this job, I thought, I can't just do an imitation of Alison because I'd never do it as well as her and I'm originally from South Wales, so I've taken the South Walian route with the character gone back to my roots, so I’m bringing a proper Welsh Beverly to Blackpool, I'm excited to see what the audiences make of it.”

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You mentioned a list of things you hope to get up to in Blackpool, will that be with the cast, do you all get on? 

“Yeah, they're great. There's only five of us in the company but we have really bonded. In fact, three of us are staying in the same apartment block in Blackpool-  it’s just a coincidence but we're looking forward to sharing a glass of wine together after the show, and hopefully we'll all go to the fair together. I'm not sure if I'm going to be brave enough to try the Big One. At one point in my life, I definitely would have, but I don't know if I've got the nerves anymore.” 

Speaking of bravery, you’re coming to Blackpool in the week leading up to Halloween so will you take part in any of the Halloween activities? For example Journey to Hell nights are on at the Pleasure Beach.

“Oh, absolutely not. I can't bear anything jumping out at me. That is my worst nightmare. I'm sure there will be members of the cast that would really enjoy that but you won't be getting me along.”

Well, going back to something that you do want to do, can I ask you why you wanted this role? 

“It's an iconic part. It is a part that I didn't think that I'd have an opportunity to play, I'm not sure it's necessarily my usual casting and when I got offered the job, I just immediately jumped at the chance. It's a huge challenge but one of my best friends once played Ange and when I told her I'd been offered it, she said ‘you've got to do it, because it's the most fun you'll ever have’.

“It is a huge challenge, it’s like an actor's gym because it's so difficult to learn the lines and that's probably because originally they were improvised. So you're learning somebody else's words but in the way in which that person speaks, so sometimes they put the name in the middle of the sentence, sometimes they put somebody's name at the end of the sentence, there's all these, ‘yeah’, ‘right’, ‘okay’, ‘what about it’ and it's very repetitive, but each time it's not quite the same. So it makes it so tricky to learn because there's not a natural rhythm to it. I didn't appreciate how difficult it was going to be and that Beverly doesn't ever stop speaking. So it's a marathon but I knew that it would pay off. Now that we're  running it, and the audiences are really enjoying it, it just feels like a gift - exhausting, but satisfying.”

If people from home recognize you best from TV, what is so different about doing a TV show versus a play ?

“When you do telly, you're filming a scene at a time but you're often filming it out of sequence. It's a different skill because you might be in an episode of something, and they're doing all of your scenes in one day, you don't know any of the cast, you don't know the director, and you just turn up and you've had to learn your lines in advance then you just hit the ground running, and if it's an emotional scene, you have to cry on tap. You have to bring it immediately and then be able to turn it off and walk away and then come back and turn it back on again.

“With theatre, you start on day one, you probably don't know the lines- I find that I need to know physically where I'm going to be, so that the lines will fall into place - and you have the whole rehearsal period of four weeks. You get to know each other, you get the opportunity to try things in different ways and then you get the benefit of having the live audience every night. So you start at the beginning, and you end at the end: you tell this story, and the audience come with you so you get that recognition at the end of it, it feels like a complete whole. Whereas telly, you do your bit and then you don't know what it's going to look like until it comes out several months later.  But I love both things, I'm very lucky to get the opportunity to do both in my career.” 

Talking about audience reaction, did you say that Abigail's Party has been getting a good reaction so far?

“Yes, really lovely, very warm receptions. We get lots of laughs in the right places and at the end -I don't want to give anything away- but people are left sort of shell shocked because they've come on this roller coaster ride with us and there's a lot to take in, there's a lot to listen to and see, and then it just finishes. I have to say, it's quite dramatic towards the end and you can hear audible gasps sometimes, and it's quite nice to be able to hear the audience have their little chats while things are going on, repeating things that you're saying. I love doing comedies because to be able to entertain an audience is a brilliant feeling.”

For people who haven't got tickets yet to Abigail’s Party, why should they?

“For a start, it's not a very long show. I know that some people get put off if they think that a play is like three hours long. No, it's not, it's under two hours and it's really good fun, you'll have a great laugh. It doesn't matter whether you're a teenager or whether you're - you know, it reaches every generation, because I think people will be able to notice and recognize at least one of these characters that they see on stage. It's just a very entertaining night out at the theatre that doesn't require you - you can just sort of leave anything that you've experienced in the day behind and just go and be entertained for two hours.”