It’s back to the late ‘70s where Beverley and Laurence are hosting a fellow lower-middle class married couple, Tony and Ange, for a party with plenty of gin and not much tonic.  Joining them is Sue, a more established middle-class divorcee, whose daughter Abigail is holding a rocking and raving party of her own over the road.

The conversation is delightfully excruciating, accentuated by the grating nasalised tones of Laurence (Martin Marquez) and the drawling “yeahhhs” of Beverley (Hannah Waterman).  Combined with Ange and Tony, characterised by Katie Lightfoot and Samuel James’s polarised styles of dancing and the latter’s smouldering stares, as well as Sue’s bliss-less ignorance, the cast had me curled up and cringing in my seat throughout.

It is a shame, however, that Lindsay Posner’s direction so squarely stereotypes all five parts from their first entrances.  The portrayals of stony Tony, ditsy Ange, prim Sue, stressed Laurence and butt-shaking Beverley become more justified in the characters’ lines and more plausible in their tipsiness as the play develops.  Given the puking and groping on show at this adult gathering, one daren’t imagine what the loud music from Abigail’s conceals.

The play has a serious edge, charting the course of collapsing marriages and family frictions, but these build to physical confrontations that are not quite believable or sinister enough to be fully effective.  Mike Leigh’s script can feel heavy-handed at times, especially if the all the class-based pretensions are assessed by modern standards.

For this reason the play would probably have been more enjoyable for older generations.  I found it amusing to note that Abigail’s teenage party – out of sight but not of mind – would be populated by party-goers our parents’ age.  But since my only experience of the ‘70s is through plays and other imaginings like this one, replete with their fantastically gaudy sets, I sensed that to appreciate this play fully you needed to have been there.

Abigail's Party runs at the Cambridge Arts Theatre until Sat 16th Feb.