Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn

Part of the trilogy The Norman Conquests, Alan Ayckbourn's hilarious play depicts the interplay between six characters over a weekend in the dining room as assistant librarian Norman tries to bring happiness to the lives of the three women present at the house with varying results.

Sarah and Reg (Annie's older brother) arrive to give Annie the chance to escape for the weekend for a long-needed rest. Fireworks begin almost immediately when Annie tells Sarah she is going away with her sister's husband, Norman. That pretty much sets the tone for the evening: an extended family whose members simultaneously despise each other and can't get enough of each other.

Central to these relationships is Norman, who needs desperately to be needed--by anyone. It's almost hard to blame him, too, once you meet his wife, Ruth, a career-obsessed woman with little apparent need for Norman. And then there is Tom, the veterinarian neighbour whom everyone assumes is courting Annie.

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