Kym Marsh shines in Abigail’s Party at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre

From pop sensation to soap star and now stage actress, Kym Marsh leads a stellar cast in Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Darren Jeffries steals the show as a standout understudy, delivering a performance that defies expectations. Ian Cheeseman reviews…

You’ll know Kym Marsh from her breakthrough as a member of Hear’Say, who won the reality show Popstars in 2001. She’s gone on to star in Coronation Street as Michelle Connor, helped front Morning Live on BBC 1 and was in the revival of the BBC series Waterloo Road.

I’ve even got her single “Cry” in my collection. Kym leads the cast of Abigail’s Party, which is currently at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.

I’ve previously seen her on stage at the Opera House in Manchester in Fatal Attraction but this Mike Leigh play, which feels like a slow-motion version of the Craig Cash, Henry Normal & Caroline Aherne TV classic, the Royal Family, was something very different for her.

She described the opportunity as “The Royal Exchange has always been on my bucket list. I’ve done a lot of theatre, and I really enjoy it, but there’s something about the Royal Exchange that makes it very special”.

You could certainly tell that she enjoyed the experience on the night I saw the play. Her co-stars Yasmin Taheri as Angie, Kyle Rowe playing Tony and Tupele Dorgu as Susan played their parts to perfection but it’s Darren Jeffries who deserves the biggest praise. He was a late understudy for Graeme Hawley, who’d ruled him out of playing Beverley’s (Marsh) husband Laurence through illness.

Darren Jeffries has played at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre, Oldham Coliseum and he played Sam in Hollyoaks, but this was probably his biggest challenge and he passed with it with flying colours. He had a script on stage with him, which he glanced at from time to time, but the quality of his acting never dipped. I am seriously in awe of how he did this. I’ve always been a big admirer of understudies, but this one takes the biscuit. Bravo Darren Jeffries.

As far is the play is concerned, I’m not really a fan, but that’s no reflection on the actors or play’s director Natalie Abrahami and of course the Royal Exchange, which is a magnificent venue.

The people around me seemed to enjoy the show, so if you’ve seen the film, which stars Alison Steadman, you can judge for yourself until May 24 at the Royal Exchange.