Jill Halfpenny | ChicanePictures

Abigail's Party

Mike Leigh‘s classic portrait of 1970’s suburbia ABIGAIL’S PARTY had its London revival at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012 before transferring to the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End.

Directed by Lindsay Posner it featured a wonderful cast, with Jill Halfpenny as Beverley, Natalie Casey as Angela, Susannah Harker as Sue, Andy Nyman as Laurence and Joe Absolom as Tony. Normally trying to get a drawing signed by a biggish cast can take more than one attempt. On this occasion it was textbook. A balmy Saturday June evening with only a few well-behaved admirers at the stage door as each of the cast filled out just after final curtain at five minute intervals and happily signed this sketch for me. If only they were all like that.

Top British actress Jill Halfpenny is equally known for her small screen appearances and stage work. She has appeared in both Coronation Street (1999-2000) and its rival Eastenders (2002-2005) and was the winner of Strictly Come Dancing‘s second season in 2004.

Her successful theatre career includes West End productions such as Chicago, Abigail’s Party and Legally Blonde, for which she won both the Theatre Goers Choice and Olivier Awards for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a musical (2011).

She also starred in the West End transfer of Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls at the Noël Coward Theatre in the summer of 2009. It’s the theatre version of the film and, based on the real life tale of the Women’s Institute members from North Yorkshire who stripped off for a charity calendar in memory of member Angela Baker’s husband John who died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1998. It raised more than £1million for Leukaemia Research.

Jill dressed down for the role and as one newspaper put it, “to get her thruppeny bits out”. Like the film, modesty is protected on stage by a series of well positioned props.

I drew this quick black biro sketch which she signed at the stage door during her three month stint.