London’s Old Vic revives Alan Ayckbourn’s comic triology The Norman Conquests, and with Table Manners, we’re all won over.
What This Show Is About
Table Manners is one part of The Norman Conquests, a trilogy of plays by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. The plays include Table Manners, Round and Round the Garden and Living Together. In Table Manners, family, in-laws and a friend meet, eat and battle around the dining room table in a country house.
Annie, a woman facing single adulthood, is growing tired of the well-intentioned but passionless courtship of her veterinarian friend, Tom. Annie’s brother and sister-in-law, Sarah and Reg, have come to the country to house sit and take care of Reg and Annie’s invalid mom, whom we never see.
Secretly, Annie is planning to go on holiday with Norman, her sister, Ruth’s husband.
What You’ll Like About 'Table Manners'
Norman is the free radical element in this emotional stew. But it is Ayckbourn’s writing that really stirs the pot. Heartrending family drama is served out in hilarious portions. You cringe even as you want to cry and all the while, you’re laughing.
This is the same crew that revived The Norman Conquests in London. Though the trilogy is built around odd-ball Norman, the rapid-fire interchange and the reality that permeates the dialogue and situations are the real stars.
Who’s Who and What’s What
Stephen Mangan stars as Norman, with Jessica Hynes as Annie; Paul Ritter, Reg; Amanda Root, Sarah; Amelia Bullmore, Ruth; and in one scene-stealing moment after another, is Ben Miles as Tom.
Matthew Warchus directed Table Manners.
Where and When
- Cricle in the Square
235 West 50th Street - Show Times and Tickets
- Previews: April 8, 2009
- Opening: April 23, 2009
- Closing: July 25, 2009
- Run Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (with intermission)
- Genre: Comedy
- Advisories: None