Arts preview: Hong Kong Players take on cult comedy Abigail's Party

Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, first staged at London's Hampstead Theatre in 1977 and televised the same year in the BBC's Play For Today series, has a cult following which - rather like that of Monty Python - parrots its lines.

In 2000 when the British Film Institute drew up a list of the 100 best programmes the BBC had ever made, Abigail's Party ranked at number 11, sandwiched between I, Claudius at number 12, and Brideshead Revisited at number 10.

The play is a black comedy of the British middle class manners of its time, but Hong Kong Players' director Jodi Gilchrist expects it to appeal to a broad audience. "I think it is one of those plays that will never go out of fashion - there are so many aspects of it that ring bells with a vast and varied age group who remember the '70s, from the costumes, to the language used, and particularly the characters," says Gilchrist. "However, I still insist that it is an entertainment piece in itself, and will appeal to any audience."

The stage play and television version made a star of Alison Steadman - Leigh's wife at the time - as Beverly Moss, the department store make-up sales girl-turned nightmarish lower middle class hostess. Taking that role is Moe Moss, last seen playing Mrs Robinson in the Players' 2013 production of The Graduate.