Abigail’s Party

It could be said that Mike Leigh uses the fishy convention of disguises at the finish of Act 1 to show Beverlys change of attitude from her disguise back to her true self. This is shown when Beverly suggests getting unshakable after having an argument with Laurence. The use of the word pissed as a colloquialism for drunk could be seen as being symbolic of Beverlys true social section seeping through the accomplishment she continuously puts on throughout the night.This is humorous for the auditory sense as Beverly spends a great deal of m and effort in the first part of Act 1 making sure that she is able to locomote guests like Angela and Tony and try to feel in the same social class as Susan. She does this by adding a copy of placing a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine in the magazine rack and putting on a record (Donna Summer Love to Love you among other things yet after one small bicker shall we distinguish with her husband represses back to having the personality the audien ce believes shes exhausting to hide.Some might also say that Leighs use of fools near the end of Act 1 is to create after a rattling tense moment. An example of this would be after Laurence makes quite a long speech which gives us an subject of his views about people as he says that people often just drift through life, without both real aims. He also describes these people as being weak. Both these points are passing serious and also quite angry.This means that when Angela tells a story about the time she went to a troupe right after these serious points, the audience feels sorry for Laurence as no one seems to be auditory modality to him, but they also cant help but laugh at Angelas contend vacancy of points Laurence was making. This makes Angela a clear example of a natural fool as she has no real knowledge about when she is making an irrelevant point. It could also be said that the comic convention of rabies is used when Angela and Beverly doesnt know when she is sayin g something inappropriate or hurtful.An example of this would be when they try to see Susan about her daughter Abigails party but end up doing the exact opposite by Beverly saying that teenagers get over-excited to which Angela add that it all starts with one kiss. This is humorous as while trying to do one thing, Beverly and Angela end up doing the exact opposite without realising it which is a classic example of a natural fool. This part of the play could also be seen as cringe comedy because of the sympathy the audience feels for innocent Susan who has been kicked out of her house by her daughter only to e made to feel until now more uncomfortable in Beverlys house with her continuous points about teenagers and their rumoured carelessness which, including the gin and tonics Beverly gives Susan, causes her to be physically sick at the very end of the act. Hypocrisy could be considered to be another comic convention that is shown at the end of Act 1. This is particularly something that Beverly shows more than anyone else as when she is describing teenagers as having a sup in one hand, a cigarette in the other and theyre having a bit of a dance.The delusion of this is that Beverly throughout the act is continuously refilling peoples drinks, offering cigarettes to everyone and is draw on page 42 as proceeding to have a dance solo in effort of the others. This is humorous as it makes it plainly obvious that Beverly is a natural fool because she is, in many slipway just as childish as the teenagers that were in Susans house. This is another case of the audience pinch superior to the characters on stage as they when seeing the play would mostly be middle class and therefore they would also probably not be as childish as Beverly or Angela.Leighs uses of comic conventions are, in my opinion, used to establish a social ladder change between when the characters are first introduced and when the act finishes which is shown with Susan coming to the house with a b ottle of red wine and ending up being sick in the toilet. Leighs clear use of comic conventions such as hypocrisy is also to breakdown the difference between sophistication and childishness. Mostly though, Leigh uses comic conventions to get the audience to foreland where they stand on the social ladder and if it really matters in this world.