Review of ‘Table’, a play

It was a big theatrical week with Biloxi Blues a marvelous Neil Simon play on Wednesday night at Castle Hill’s Pavilion Theatre & then Table at Seymour Centre.

The Best family’s dining table handed down through six generations. As the play opens we are at first in modernity as two characters ponder the various scratches, scuffs, discolourations and leopard claw marks upon the table surface. Each distinctive mark is a different story. The next scene, based in the cathedral town within Staffordshire; Lichfield, takes the audience back to the start of the six-generation family heritage when the table was first crafted – as a wedding present from husband to wife. In the scenes that follow the story of each of the table’s distinctive marks is revealed. The table is transported to and from Africa; the Christian mission of one of the family’s women.

It is in Africa that the table dramatically obtains the leopard claw marks.

We were fortunate to see the play last night at the first preview.

The play was special in that our household has it’s own table - a table that has a story. That story started on buying it from a couple at cost of the purchase of their new table. It may seem odd that we bought them a table, however, the exchange worked in that they found the table too large for the nook they had placed it in. Our table comfortable sits sixteen, weighs a tonne, and is well crafted in Australian timbers. The table we purchased for the couple was also finely crafted yet twelve placing settings proved to have greater utility to them.

The acting was grand. The few actors adept at managing the transition of role as each new scene took the audience to a new generation of the family. The set and props are minimalist so there is a degree of pressure on the actors to survive without any distractions to the eye.

One actor remarks:

“I hate this table”.

Yet, the audience recognises the sentiment at odds with the table’s history.

We travelled by public transport with buses to door. The plays runs 26th July to 17th August, 2019 and you can book here: https://www.seymourcentre.com

Shalom,

Ozhamada

#theatre #sydney #seymourcentre