Table

Synopsis

An epic tale of belonging, identity and the things we pass on. Telling the story of 115 years of family life, Table is a multi-generational story of love, ghosts and how to live. Six generations, nine performers, thirty parts and one special piece of furniture.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 15 April 2013

Sophie Wu & Paul Hilton (photo credit Richard Hubert Smith)

There's a big red wooden shed gone up outside the National Theatre: this is The Shed, standing in for the Cottesloe, which is closed for refurbishment before re-opening as the Dorfman next year.

Inside, perhaps disappointingly, it's just another black box, squarer than the Cottesloe, seating for 225, a gallery round the top, the whole structure bolted on to the front of the Lyttelton foyer with a very agreeable new bar area conveniently adjacent to the coffee counter.

A similar sort of "sensible" doggedness characterises the opening show, Tanya Ronder's Table, directed by Rufus Norris and played by a crack company of nine actors across four generations gathered round and circling the same, er, table. The show's been incubating for three years.

We see the newly varnished table leaving a Lichfield workshop for a mar...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

David Baxter - 18 April 2013:

Inside The Shed resembles a slightly smaller Cottesloe with the same uncomfortable seats and some added problems with sightlines. Outside it's like a huge upturned red table which is appropriate for the first play, a hugely ambitious sprawling family epic based around the eponymous table which is passed through the generations. Unfortunately it's too ambitious for such a small cast, most of whom are roughly the same age. Even though there is a family tree printed in the programme (just £1!) you really need the more detailed playtext to make sense of all the relationships. At first Paul Hilton is restricted to circling the platform stage singing hymns but eventually he impresses as Gideon and his own father. Rosalie Craig, usually seen in musicals, is excellent as the pious Sarah, although her sudden transformation from novitiate nun to a seductress strains credulity. Rufus Norris and the cast do their best with Tanya Ronder's potentially impressive play but it is crying out for the resources available in the Lyttlelton or Olivier....

Read more and add your own review