Editing Separate Tables

{{Short description|Play written by Terence Rattigan}}
{{About|the plays|the 1958 film|Separate Tables (film)|1980s Australian band that would become Girl Overboard|Girl Overboard (band)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{italic title}}
[[File:SeparateTables.jpg|thumb|First edition (publ. [[Hamish Hamilton]], 1955)]]
'''''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 party (UK)|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.

== Synopses==
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.<ref name=times/>

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.<ref name=times/> In an early draft of the play, Rattigan had Major Pollock's misdemeanour not as harassment of women but homosexual importuning;<ref>Glaister, Dan. "Rattigan and the curious case of the gay major", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 26 February 1998, p. 3</ref> 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."<ref name=kt>Tynan, Kenneth. "Mixed Double", ''[[The Observer]]'', 26 September 1954, p. 11</ref>

Tynan also wrote that both plays are about people who are driven by loneliness into a state of desperation.<ref name=kt/>

==Original productions==
The play premiered at the Opera House in Manchester,<ref>"A Pair of Rattigan Plays at the Opera House: 'Separate Tables'", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 7 September 1954, p. 5</ref> ''Separate Tables'' then moved to the [[St James's Theatre]] in London on 22 September 1954, with the following cast:
* Mrs Shankland and Miss Railton-Bell – [[Margaret Leighton]]
* Mr Martin and Major Pollock – [[Eric Portman]]
* Mrs Railton-Bell – [[Phyllis Neilson-Terry]]
* Miss Cooper – [[Beryl Measor]]
* Mabel – [[Marion Fawcett]]
* Lady Matheson – Jane Eccles
* Miss Meacham – [[May Hallatt]]
* Mr Fowler – [[Aubrey Mather]]
* Mr Stratton – [[Basil Henson]]
* Miss Tanner – Patricia Rayne

The play was directed by [[Peter Glenville]], with sets by Michael Weight.<ref name=times>"St James's Theatre", ''The Times'', 23 September 1954, p. 10</ref> 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...".<ref>Wansell, p. 257</ref> The production was a commercial success, running for 726 performances.<ref>Gaye, p. 1538</ref>

''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."<ref>Atkinson, Brooks. [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10614F8345D177A93C4AB178BD95F428585F9&action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2FRattigan%2BAND%2BSeparate%2BTables%2F "The Theatre – Separate Tables"], ''The New York Times'', 26 October 1956, p. 32 {{subscription required}}</ref> The production won one [[Tony Awards|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).<ref>[http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search "Separate Tables search"] Tony Awards, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref>

==Revivals==
Among stage revivals of the piece are [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]]'s production at the [[Noël Coward Theatre|Albery]] in London in 1993 with [[Patricia Hodge]] and [[Peter Bowles]] in the principal roles,<ref>Spencer, Charles. "Putting a brave face on desperation – Terence Rattigan revealed as the poet of the stiff upper lip", ''The Daily Telegraph'', 8 July 1993, p. 17</ref> and one by the [[Royal Exchange, Manchester|Royal Exchange Theatre]], Manchester in 2006 using the text of Rattigan's alternative draft, with the Major's lapse as a homosexual one.<ref>Walker, Lynne. "Rattigan's gay slant restored", ''The Independent'', 6 April 2006, p. 48</ref>

==Adaptations==
{{Main article|Separate Tables (film)}}
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]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713114640/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b5780fa "Separate Tables (1958)"], British Film Institute, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref> [[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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120805111011/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b862111fe "Separate Tables (1983)"], British Film Institute, retrieved 19 March 2014</ref>

The plays were adapted for television in 1970 as part of the [[Play of the Month|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 role in this adaptation as well.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066353/| title=BBC Play of the Month - Separate Tables| website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book|editor-last= Gaye|editor-first=Freda  |year= 1967|title=Who's Who in the Theatre |edition=fourteenth|location=London |publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons |oclc=5997224 }}
* {{cite book | last= Wansell | first= Geoffrey | year= 1995| title= Terence Rattigan | location= London | publisher= Fourth Estate | isbn=1857022017}}

==External links==
* [https://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/rattigan-terence.php List of Rattigan's plays]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2573 IBDB entry for ''Separate Tables'']

{{Terence Rattigan}}

[[Category:1954 plays]]
[[Category:Plays by Terence Rattigan]]
[[Category:Hamish Hamilton books]]
[[Category:British plays adapted into films]]
[[Category:West End plays]]