Table Manners
by Alan Ayckbourn
The Palace Theatre - 9-10th February 2015
by Alan Ayckbourn
The Palace Theatre - 9-10th February 2015
talking Scarlet Productions (that’s how it’s written - don’t tell the grammar police) previewed this play last year and are now into the second week of the touring production. They weren’t actually scheduled to appear at The Palace Theatre but apparently a slot came up for this Monday and Tuesday and so Southend audiences have had the opportunity to see one of Alan Ayckbourn’s earliest productions. Table Manners is part of a trilogy called the Norman Conquests which Ayckbourn wrote in 1973, the other two plays Round and Round the Garden and Living Together complete the Conquests which are all set in the same period of time but in different parts of the house.
The play revolves around Norman, the man/child/free spirit, who has so much love inside him that he feels he needs to spread it around and has already seduced Annie, his wife’s sister and planned to take her away for a romantic break to East Grinstead, of all places. Reg (Annie’s brother) and his wife, Sarah, descend on Annie’s house for the weekend as they are relieving her of ‘looking after mother’ duties so that she can go away for the weekend. However, they don’t realise that Annie’s weekend date is Norman and not, as they assume, Tom, Annie’s hapless neighbour who happens to be a vet and, it would seem, much more in tune with animals than with women; much to Annie’s despair. Bring in former Emmerdale actress Anna Brecon as Ruth, Norman’s myopic wife, for good measure and the forced pleasantries of a weekend family reunion begin.
This play very much reminds me of the style of The Good Life and it’s no wonder really, being set in the suburban middle class era of 1974. Annie puts you very much in mind of Barbra Good and Reg and Sarah have very similar traits to Margot and Jerry. Polly Smith who plays Sarah gives a frightfully accurate middle class believability to the part with Marcus Hutton, from Brookside, portraying the downtrodden Reg. You really feel for Jo Castleton’s Annie and the hopelessness of her situation, not helped by her lack of culinary skills and having to put up with her family’s constant digs.
David Callister, from ITV’s The Bill, comes bouncing on to the stage as Norman and expertly begins his irritating tirade on the family but making you love him despite his faults. My favourite performance though came from Ben Roddy as the clueless Tom - a kind of young, animal loving Trigger from Fools and Horses.
I have to be honest and say that although Ayckbourn is a total genius, this play for me seems somewhat dated now. The actors did a brilliant job of eking out the humour of the piece and certainly the matinee audience (age group averaging out at around 72, at a guess) seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Mind you, the dear little old lady next to me did nod off at one point and another elderly couple toddled off half way through Act 2 never to return but all in all they seemed to be having a super time of it with lots of laughs all round.
Now usually at this point of a review, I like to let you all know “What the Audience Thought”. Sadly, none of the audience members I approached wanted to be featured on the website, in fact the very thought of it seemed to horrify them. I’m not sure if this was down to shyness or if they were all working undercover and didn’t want to be exposed. I was hopeful that a new age of ‘silver surfers’ would be queuing up to get themselves on MyTownSouthend’s Theatre page but, alas, I was wrong and so I had to send Steve, the photographer, off with his camera and tail between his legs. So no audience thoughts this time but a huge thanks to Southend Theatres and also to the cast and crew of Table Manners for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
The play revolves around Norman, the man/child/free spirit, who has so much love inside him that he feels he needs to spread it around and has already seduced Annie, his wife’s sister and planned to take her away for a romantic break to East Grinstead, of all places. Reg (Annie’s brother) and his wife, Sarah, descend on Annie’s house for the weekend as they are relieving her of ‘looking after mother’ duties so that she can go away for the weekend. However, they don’t realise that Annie’s weekend date is Norman and not, as they assume, Tom, Annie’s hapless neighbour who happens to be a vet and, it would seem, much more in tune with animals than with women; much to Annie’s despair. Bring in former Emmerdale actress Anna Brecon as Ruth, Norman’s myopic wife, for good measure and the forced pleasantries of a weekend family reunion begin.
This play very much reminds me of the style of The Good Life and it’s no wonder really, being set in the suburban middle class era of 1974. Annie puts you very much in mind of Barbra Good and Reg and Sarah have very similar traits to Margot and Jerry. Polly Smith who plays Sarah gives a frightfully accurate middle class believability to the part with Marcus Hutton, from Brookside, portraying the downtrodden Reg. You really feel for Jo Castleton’s Annie and the hopelessness of her situation, not helped by her lack of culinary skills and having to put up with her family’s constant digs.
David Callister, from ITV’s The Bill, comes bouncing on to the stage as Norman and expertly begins his irritating tirade on the family but making you love him despite his faults. My favourite performance though came from Ben Roddy as the clueless Tom - a kind of young, animal loving Trigger from Fools and Horses.
I have to be honest and say that although Ayckbourn is a total genius, this play for me seems somewhat dated now. The actors did a brilliant job of eking out the humour of the piece and certainly the matinee audience (age group averaging out at around 72, at a guess) seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Mind you, the dear little old lady next to me did nod off at one point and another elderly couple toddled off half way through Act 2 never to return but all in all they seemed to be having a super time of it with lots of laughs all round.
Now usually at this point of a review, I like to let you all know “What the Audience Thought”. Sadly, none of the audience members I approached wanted to be featured on the website, in fact the very thought of it seemed to horrify them. I’m not sure if this was down to shyness or if they were all working undercover and didn’t want to be exposed. I was hopeful that a new age of ‘silver surfers’ would be queuing up to get themselves on MyTownSouthend’s Theatre page but, alas, I was wrong and so I had to send Steve, the photographer, off with his camera and tail between his legs. So no audience thoughts this time but a huge thanks to Southend Theatres and also to the cast and crew of Table Manners for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.