Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn was CEDS’ chosen production for May 2019.
A comedy in two acts, the play is set in a dining room with only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth’s sister Annie, and Tom, Annie’s next-door-neighbour. A seventh unseen and unheard character is in the house, upstairs: the bedridden mother of Reg, Ruth and Annie.
The premise is that Annie lives in a countryside house taking care of her demanding mother, and has decided that she needs a weekend off. Reg and Sarah have agreed to come and take care of Annie’s and Reg’s mother for a week-end while Annie goes on a short trip. However, Annie is secretly planning to meet up with her sister Ruth’s charming, rakish husband Norman for an illicit weekend together (something Annie has never done before, and is unsure about). However, things go wrong when Norman shows up at the house early to pick up Annie contrary to plan, and everybody ends up at the house for the entire week-end, and various arguments ensue while the characters have differing degrees of understanding about what’s actually happening.
Cast: Dom Casey, Sally Nower, Geves Lafosse, Joe Murphy, Ian Pike, Jan Kavanagh
