THE THEATER MIRROR, New England's LIVE Theater Guide
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note: entire contents copyright 2010 by Beverly Creasey
I adore Alan Ayckbourn. I’d travel to the ends of the earth to see his entire THE NORMAN CONQUESTS trilogy again. Lucky me. I don’t have to, (to see part of it anyway) because TABLE MANNERS is getting a delicious production through July 3rd at Gloucester Stage.
Director Eric Engel’s cast isn’t British but they’re as close to comic perfection as you can get on this side of the pond. Ayckbourn’s naughty little farces need a light touch and consummate timing---which Gloucester Stage delivers in spades.
It’s nothing short of sheer delight watching Steven Barkhimer as the incorrigible “gigolo trapped in a haystack” trying to seduce every woman in the play. And right under the noses of the menfolk, to boot! Richard Snee is totally oblivious of Norman’s advances on his high strung wife: What fun witnessing the thawing of Lindsay Crouse’s snooty, disapproving prude.
Barlow Adamson gives a tour de force performance as the clueless veterinarian Sarah Newhouse wishes would show her some affection. Just when you think Ayckbourn can’t possibly create more mayhem, Jennie Israel arrives as Norman’s literally and figuratively short sighted wife. If you know all the plays, you know what’s happening in the other locales (which makes the present action even funnier) but if you don’t, Ayckbourn has crafted the plays so seamlessly that you don’t need to know to laugh yourself silly.