Separate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, on the south coast of England. The first play, titled Table by the Window, focuses on the troubled relationship between a disgraced Labour politician and his ex-wife. The second play, Table Number Seven, is set about 18 months after the events of the previous play, and deals with the touching friendship between a repressed spinster and Major Pollock, a kindly but bogus man posing as an upper-class retired army officer. The two main roles in both plays are written to be played by the same performers. The secondary characters – permanent residents, the hotel's manager, and members of the staff – appear in both plays.
In Table by the Window, Martin, a once-rising politician, now turned to drink, is dining with his ex-wife. Earlier he was sent to prison for beating her. She, having remarried, is now divorced a second time, and seeks a reconciliation with Martin. Miss Cooper, the manager of the hotel is his mistress. Still, after an off-stage confrontation with the ex-wife, Miss Cooper helps, with great generosity, to bring about a cautious reunion of the formerly married couple. [1]
In Table Number Seven, Major Pollock tries to conceal from his fellow guests a report in the local newspaper of his sexual harassment of women at a local cinema. A repressed and hysterical young woman, under the thumb of her formidable mother, takes his side and falls in love with him. Again Miss Cooper encourages her guests to examine their feelings honestly and face their futures bravely. [1] In an early draft of the play, Rattigan had Major Pollock's misdemeanour not as harassment of women but homosexual importuning; [2] the critic Kenneth Tynan commented at the time of the premiere that the version used then was "as good a handling of sexual abnormality as English playgoers will tolerate." [3]
Tynan also wrote that both plays are about people who are driven by loneliness into a state of desperation. [3]
The play premiered at the Opera House in Manchester, [4] Separate Tables then moved to the St James's Theatre in London on 22 September 1954, with the following cast:
The play was directed by Peter Glenville, with sets by Michael Weight. [1] It opened to good reviews; Harold Hobson called the second play in the double-bill, "one of Rattigan's masterpieces, in which he shows in superlative degree his pathos, his humour and his astounding mastery over [the] English language...". [5] The production was a commercial success, running for 726 performances. [6]
Separate Tables was presented at the Music Box Theatre in New York on 25 October 1956. It was a transfer of the London production with the same principal players and many of the supporting cast. In The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote "Since Terence Rattigan has written a particularly fine play, it is only fair that it should be wonderfully well acted." [7] The production won one Tony award (for Leighton as best dramatic actress) and was nominated for five more: for the play, the direction, and for three of the supporting cast, Neilson-Terry, Measor and William Podmore (as Fowler). [8]
Among stage revivals of the piece are Peter Hall's production at the Albery in London in 1993 with Patricia Hodge and Peter Bowles in the principal roles, [9] and one by the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in 2006 using the text of Rattigan's alternative draft, with the Major's lapse as a homosexual one. [10]
The 1958 film, with a few extra parts, was adapted for the screen by Rattigan. It starred Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Burt Lancaster and Wendy Hiller. [11] John Schlesinger directed a television film version in 1983, with Julie Christie and Alan Bates as the two couples, with Claire Bloom as Miss Cooper and Irene Worth as Mrs Railton-Bell. [12]
The plays were adapted for television in 1970 as part of the BBC Play of the Month anthology series by Hugh Whitemore. It starred Geraldine McEwan as Sibyl Railton Bell and Anne Shankland, Eric Porter as Major Pollock and John Malcolm and Annette Crosbie as Pat Cooper. Cathleen Nesbitt who played the role of Lady Matheson in the 1958 film adaptation resumed the same role in this adaptation as well. [13]
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background. He wrote The Winslow Boy (1946), The Browning Version (1948), The Deep Blue Sea (1952) and Separate Tables (1954), among many others.
Anthony Asquith was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Browning Version (1951), among other adaptations. His other notable films include Pygmalion (1938), French Without Tears (1940), The Way to the Stars (1945) and a 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
Man and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan. It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963, with Charles Boyer starring as Gregor Antonescu. It had a Broadway revival in 2011 with Frank Langella and Adam Driver.
The Sleeping Prince: An Occasional Fairy Tale is a 1953 play by Terence Rattigan, conceived to coincide with the coronation of Elizabeth II in the same year. Set in London in 1911, it tells the story of Mary Morgan, a young actress, who meets and ultimately captivates Prince Charles of Carpathia, considered to be inspired by Carol II of Romania.
Benjamin Arthur Flemyng, known professionally as Robert Flemyng, was a British actor. The son of a doctor, and originally intended for a medical career, Flemyng learned his stagecraft in provincial repertory theatre. In 1935 he appeared in a leading role in the West End, and the following year had his first major success, in Terence Rattigan's comedy French Without Tears. Between then and the Second World War he appeared in London and New York in a succession of comedies.
Rodney Ackland was an English playwright, actor, theatre director and screenwriter.
Ross is a 1960 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan.
Peter Glenville was an English theatre and film director, and actor. He was a prominent director of stage plays on the West End and Broadway in the 1950s. He was nominated for four Tony Awards for his American plays.
The Deep Blue Sea is a 1955 British drama film directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Vivien Leigh and Kenneth More, and produced by London Films and released by Twentieth Century Fox. The picture was based on the 1952 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan.
Separate Tables is a 1958 American drama film starring Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Burt Lancaster, and Wendy Hiller, based on two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan that were collectively known by this name. Niven and Hiller won Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively for their performances. The picture was directed by Delbert Mann and adapted for the screen by Rattigan, John Gay and an uncredited John Michael Hayes. Mary Grant and Edith Head designed the film's costumes.
Constance Emmeline Carpenter was an English-born American film and musical theatre actress.
Basil Henson was an English actor. He appeared on film, television, and the stage, where he was particularly known for his work at the National Theatre.
Flare Path is a play by Terence Rattigan, written in 1941 and first staged in 1942. Set in a hotel near an RAF Bomber Command airbase during the Second World War, the story involves a love triangle between a pilot, his actress wife and a famous film star. The play is based in part on Rattigan's own wartime experiences, and was significantly reworked and adapted for film as The Way to the Stars.
Hazel M. Neilson-Terry was an English actress. A member of the theatrical dynasty the Terry family she had a successful stage career, and also made some cinema films. Among her roles was Ophelia in Hamlet opposite her cousin John Gielgud.
Derek Osborne Hart was a British actor, journalist and radio presenter best known for his appearances on the BBC's current affairs programme of the 1950s and 1960s, Tonight.
In Praise of Love, originally entitled After Lydia, is the first part of a 1973 double-bill play by the English playwright Terence Rattigan. It was the penultimate play he wrote.
The Terry family was a British theatrical dynasty of the late 19th century and beyond. The family includes not only those members with the surname Terry, but also Neilsons, Craigs and Gielguds, to whom the Terrys were linked by marriage or blood ties.
Phyllis Neilson-Terry was an English actress. She was a member of the third generation of the theatrical dynasty the Terry family. After early successes in the classics, including several leading Shakespearean roles, she spent more than four years in the US, in generally lightweight presentations.
Beryl Measor was a British actress. She created roles in plays by Noël Coward and Terence Rattigan. In addition to her stage career she broadcast frequently on BBC radio and television, and appeared in several cinema films.
Variation on a Theme is a 1958 play by the British writer Terence Rattigan. It is a reworking of Alexandre Dumas, fils's nineteenth century novel and subsequent play La Dame aux Camélias.