Founded by Jaclyn Robertson and Ward Kay in 2021, NOVA Nightsky Theater of Falls Church has a unique mission: to perform theater in unconventional spaces. In addition to performing black box-style theater in its Falls Church studio on West Broad Street, NOVA Nightsky Theater also performs shows in parking lots, in amphitheaters, on museum steps, and inside museums and churches across Northern Virginia. For their recent production, “Table Manners,” a small, intimate, studio setting was ideal; as founder Robertson notes, the show “would have been ‘lost’ on a larger stage.”
Written by Alan Ayckbourn, “Table Manners” is one play out of a trilogy entitled “The Norman Conquests.” Here “Norman conquests” refers not to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Invasion on England in 1066, but rather to a man named Norman whose “conquests” are various women in his life.
The play, which might be termed an updated version of a Noel Coward comedy of manners, was here directed by Ward Kay. The story is of three women, Ruth, Annie, and Sarah. Norman is married to Ruth and, during the play, he seeks to spend a weekend holiday alone with her sister Annie, even though Annie wants to date a friendly but obtuse veterinarian named Tom. There is also Reg, Ruth’s brother, who is married to Sarah; Norman also wishes to make advances to her as well.
As the play progresses, the viewer comes to see repeated themes and tactics used by Norman in his attempted “conquests.” In the Falls Church production, the methodical acting and broadly humorous style of the cast enthusiastically conveyed a storyline which is by no means simple. In one of the most humorous scenes, after a comical who-sits-where debacle at the dinner table, Tom, a very tall and imposing man, ends up seated in an extraordinarily low, and bubble-gum pink, wicker chair; he is now as short as a child seated at the table. The diminutive Norman uses this new situation to ridicule Tom for his now-diminished stature, showing Norman’s art of manipulation is not only reserved for women.
One aspect which made the show effective was its attention to detail. From little details like an advertisement to win a breakfast cereal prize on an oversize cereal box, to the 1970s-era dining room in an English country house, these details helped to create an intimate atmosphere which heightened the effect of the dysfunctional family’s actions around the central table. The work of lighting designer Adam Ressa also helped provide an intimate home-like feel in the theatre.
Norman’s extravagant personality was played to perfection by Hanlon Smith-Dorsey, while Elyse R. Smith portrayed Annie’s insecurities to excellent effect. Similarly, April Everett was brilliant in her portrayal of Sarah, who alternated between suffering and being insufferable. Jesper Sullivan Den Bergh gave his dullard character a lot of life and some very amusing physical moments. Norman’s frustrated wife Ruth was well-played by Lauren Morrell. Chris D’Angelo (as Reg) succeeded at the challenging task of playing a character who is witty compared to the stodgy Tom, but who is also very restrained in comparison to the lively and unconstrained Norman. Most of all, the entire six-member cast was able to render British-style humor in a manner understandable to an American audience.
While “Table Manners” has now run its course, NOVA Nightsky Theater has recently announced this is just the first of a series of plays that they will be performing about dysfunctional families. The next will be “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. For more information, please visit: novanightskytheater.com
