Table Manners is one of three plays in Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy The Norman Conquests, all featuring the same set of characters. It was written in the early 70s and certainly feels like a play from a bygone age. It does have a few gently amusing moments, which revolve around six people brought together for a weekend, and unsurprisingly, given the title, the play is set in a dining room.
There is a slightly confusing dynamic to the show as, although it takes a while to realise it, three of the characters are related. At-home carer Annie (Lucy Jane Quinlan), Reg who is heartlessly misogynistic (Pete Ashmore) and uptight Ruth (Katy Dean) are siblings but, sadly, Ayckbourn’s script doesn’t fully develop the issues around family rivalry and affection that would give these characters some depth.
Alongside them we have Sarah, Reg’s highly strung wife (Joanna Simpkins), Tom (Toby Manley) the slightly dull vet who is hoping for Annie’s affection and Norman (Ross Waiton) the “centre of attention” who is desperate for affection and attention.
The storyline of the play is quite complex, but let me try and explain. The six characters are staying in the siblings’ mother’s house. We never meet their mother who is bedbound upstairs, and usually cared for by Annie. Reg and Sarah have agreed to stay the weekend so Annie can have a well-deserved short break. Initially Sarah assumes that Annie is going away with Tom however, it transpires that Annie is planning to go away with Norman, her brother-in-law to, wildly exotic, East Grinstead.
Annie is persuaded by Sarah that going away with Norman is a bad idea and she should focus on Tom as a potential love match. Sarah summons Ruth, who though aware of her husband’s womanising ways, is initially unaware that her sister is the object of his affections this time. This convoluted dynamic plays out, in the dining room, over a number of meals and chaotic interactions among the family members.
The issue with a production that is so wordy, and complicated, is that lines must be delivered loudly, slowly and clearly, with perfect diction and well projected voices and this is where the performance is sadly lacking. Many vital lines are either mumbled or delivered so quickly as to render them inaudible and, as a result, the subtle nuances of the play are lost.
There are some funny moments. Reg and Sarah’s constant bickering is well timed. Norman is the source of both verbal and visual humour, and has an endearing but exasperating nature. There is an amusing scene when he is trying to force the other characters to break their silence and speak to him over breakfast.
The first dinner scene involves a form of musical chairs, without the music, resulting in Tom being seated in a child’s chair. Again, there is some visual and verbal humour but, once again, the subtlety of the verbal jousting by the characters gets a little lost due to the volume and the speed of its delivery.
This is the first play in a trilogy of productions under the title “Summer Playhouse at the Park”, and will be followed by Dangerous Obsession by N.J. Crisp and Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt, which need to be a lot more entertaining if the season is to be a success.
*** Three Stars