Seventies kitsch, domestic melodrama and some hilarious performances dominated during a performance of a classic play.

Five actors staged a version of Mike Leigh’s ’Abigail’s Party’ over three nights at the Onchan Methodist Hall.

The play was first performed in 1977, is set in a typical suburban front room and is centred around a tortuous drinks party.

Eager to meet and impress her neighbours, Beverley Moss invites a young couple, Angela and Tony (Sharon and John Walker)round for drinks, and also drags Susan (Alison Quayle) along, who has been forced out of her house, as her 15-year-old daughter, Abigail - from whom the play takes its name, even though we never meet her, - is having a party of her own.

Beverley, played by Rachel Joughin, is a vampish lush, constantly with a cigarette or a gin and tonic in her hand and a cheese-and-pineapple stick at the ready, while her husband Laurence, played by Howard Caine, is eternally harassed, but desperate to show off his middle-class standards.

Set against a wonderfully-garish set, the comedy, drama and tension of the awkward party grew through out the play, helped along by the excellent performances from the cast.

As the drinks flowed and the guests shared the uncomfortable space, Rachel’s performance of Beverley, as she chided Laurence and flirted with the monosyllabic Tony, was a joy to watch.

Similarly, Howard Caine was brilliantly frustrated as the put-upon hen-pecked husband, right up until his untimely end.

The play was organised and produced by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation Isle of Man, and over the weekend raised £2,885.84 for the charity.