An Uproarious Production of Alan Ayckbourn's Table Manners
by Richard Connema
talkinbroadway.com

Shotgun Players are presenting Table Manners, the first installment of Alan Ayckbourn's three-part The Norman Conquests. This is the playwright at his most symmetrical, with six characters in three linked plays where the action takes place around four meals, eaten with diminishing returns, over three days. This company with six fine actors and great direction by Joy Carlin gets the British playwright's style right. The timing is impeccable.

I first saw the trilogy at Greenwich Theatre near London with a great British cast including Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, the hilarious Penelope Keith, and Felicity Kendal. Over the years I have seen one or two of the Norman plays here in the United States but not with very good results.

Table Manners is about frustrated Annie (Zehra Berkman) who is looking after her bedridden mum and destined to team up for life with dull veterinarian Tom (Josiah Polhemus). However, Annie has planned a lovely weekend in East Grinstead with passionately romantic Norman (Richard Reinholdt) who is married to her aggressive sister Ruth (Sarah Marshall). Annie's high strung sister Sarah (Kendra Lee Oberhauser) and her husband Reg (Mick Maze) have left their two children at home so Annie can take this much needed two-day vacation.

Sarah is puzzled when informed that Annie's escort will be Norman, so she summons Norman's wife Ruth (Sarah Mitchell) to come down to the manor. However, Ruth is too obsessed with her career to notice or care about what Norman is up to. What happens in a deliciously controlled degree of gusto is a disastrously high-pitch meal and a hilarious confrontation between the family members. This is typical Ayckbourn and British farce at its finest.

The Shotgun Players cast handles the Ayckbourn style very well. Joy Carlin appears to have refined a flair for transforming the sarcastic undercurrents and tensions of the dysfunctional family. Richard Reinholdt is charismatic as an unlikely Lothario who describes himself as "an assistant librarian in the wrong body." He has a field day playing all of the sides of the manipulative Norman. He is a master of extended monologue, carrying on a conversation with himself.

Kendra Lee Oberhauser gives an engaging performance as Sarah, who is visibly hardened toward Norman's antics and eruptions. She further conveys the character's stiffness with clipped speech, and evokes sympathy for being a bossy woman with her own compulsiveness. Zehra Berkman is wonderful as the frustrated Annie. She shifts from aggravation to vexation at being browbeaten and having spent five years looking after her cantankerous bedridden mother upstairs.

Josiah Polhemus is terrific as the dim-witted Tom. Tom attempts to keep up with all of the goings on and incorrectly interprets Annie's signals. He has a brilliant scene in the second act sitting at the dining room table alone where, with no dialogue, he builds a "Noah's ark" out of utensils from the table. Mike Mize is a hoot as Reg. He plays the role as an observer and delivers some of the playwright's zippy one-liners. His comic timing is perfect as Reg rolls his eyes and gives deeps sighs of exasperation when his wife orders him around. Sarah Mitchell gives a feisty performance as Ruth, Norman's disinterested wife. She is hilarious playing the antagonistic, myopic, provoking character who unleashes her belligerence. No one in this crazy family likes the others.

Nina Ball has designed an excellent set that looks like an upscale dining room in a Sussex County home. Valera Coble's costumes and Masha Tsimring's lighting are great assets to the farce.

Shotgun Players Captures Alan Ayckbourn's Style in Living Together
by Richard Connema
talkinbroadway.com

Shotgun Players are presenting the trio of comedies called The Norman Conquests through September 5. In Living Together, the six actors under the great direction of Molly Aaronson-Gelb have captured the timing and style of Britain's most celebrated playwright.

Alan Ayckbourn aims to make each play work independently while being a piece of a theatrical puzzle, which the playwright loves. Living Together takes place in the living room of the home that is the setting for all three plays.

Annie (Zehra Berkman) is a woman facing single adulthood and growing tired of the well-intentioned but passionless courtship of her veterinarian friend Tom (Josiah Polhemus). Annie's brother Reg (Mick Mize) and her sister-in-law Sarah (Kendra Lee Oberhauser) have come to the country to house sit and take care of Reg and Annie's invalid mother, whom we never see. Put into this mix is free-spirited Norman (Richard Reinholdt), the protagonist of the group.

Annie is secretly planning to go on holiday with Norman. Sarah finds out and asks Norman's wife Ruth (Sarah Mitchell) to come for the weekend in an effort to stop this liaison. However, Ruth is more interested in her profession than any romantic entanglements that Norman has. Of course, everything goes downhill as the audience witnesses rapid-fire interchanges that are absolutely hilarious. Ayckbourn's dialogue sparkles and the situations are uproarious, especially in the scene as Reg attempts to explain a complicated board game to dim-witted Tom. It is something out of a Monty Python skit.

Once again, this superb cast gets everything right. The timing is impeccable and each of the actors has a turn to shine in this two-hour comedy. They have the British accent down pat also. Richard Reinholdt looks like and acts like a charming teddy bear who can be quite maddening as he causes many an irritating interchange with the other characters. It's is a tour de force of droll acting with expert timing. Kendra Lee Oberhauser as Sarah is perfect as she brings overwrought energy to the stage every time she is on.

Mike Mize as the clownish Reg and Josiah Polhemus as the hapless Tom give hilarious performances. Zehra Berkman does a bang-up performance as Annie. Sarah Mitchell is perfect as the intolerant and provoking Ruth.

Molly Aaronson-Gelb has directed a sharp production bringing out the best of the British playwright in this stimulating comedy. Nina Ball has designed a wonderful living room set that looks typically British. Valera Coble's costumes are excellent also.