Bad behaviour and brilliant comedy in Table Manners at The Capitol

Don’t be fooled into thinking Alan Ayckbourn is just light-hearted, superficial, frothy comedy, says Marcus Hutton.
Table Manners plays Horshams Capitol from June 29 to July 1Table Manners plays Horshams Capitol from June 29 to July 1
Table Manners plays Horshams Capitol from June 29 to July 1

“Acykbourn is often seen as a very light comedy writer. But he is not. He is dark, extremely dark about people.”

You can see Marcus’ point in Table Manners, which plays Horsham’s Capitol from June 29 to July 1.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

People are completely dissected in the play (which is part of The Norman Conquests trilogy). They are having affairs, they are behaving badly, they are saying one thing and doing another. You see the darkness in the characters. But at the same time, on the top of it all, is a brilliant comedy.”

Marcus Hutton stars in Table Manners at The CapitolMarcus Hutton stars in Table Manners at The Capitol
Marcus Hutton stars in Table Manners at The Capitol

The 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.

“We have been doing this play for quite a while now, since last September. And I never get bored. It’s so well written. What Ayckbourn is absolutely brilliant at is absolutely nailing the inconsistencies and the hypocrisies of human beings in a very funny way.

“What is also so clever about Ayckbourn is that he wrote this as a trilogy, and you can see all the plays, or you can see just one without the other two. He wrote them so they can stand alone, but at the same time a character will walk one out of one room into another room in one of the two other plays. This one is set in the dining room. Another is set in the garden. Another is set in the living room. Ayckbourn must just have such a huge brain to make that work, that characters can walk from one play to the other.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The plays are called The Norman Conquests because they are about Norman who is a kind of libertine. He tries to seduce all the women. They are called The Norman Conquests because they are about Norman’s Conquests. It’s about relationships, it’s about marriage, it’s about being childless, it’s about love and it’s about yearning.”

Marcus plays Reg – brother to Annie and Ruth, children of a dragon mother, still alive, bed-ridden and never seen.

“Reg is probably on the Asperger spectrum. He is an estate agent. He is immature. He makes jokes. He has his clothes laid out on the bed for him. He is like a little boy. He is married to Sarah who is extremely frustrated. He is obsessed with food, and he just wants a quiet life. He is like a lot of men. He is an everyman character in some ways. Reg doesn’t like life to be complicated and it constantly is. He just wants to eat and to play golf and to tousle his children’s hair and to go to bed. He is also insensitive. There is a lot of humour in the character, but his wife does fall for Norman’s charms – because she has a lot to put up with!”

Marcus trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Theatre includes work at Nottingham Playhouse, The Manchester Royal Exchange, The Wolsey Ipswich, Riverside Studios, The Oxford Stage Company, The Exeter Northcott, The Horseshoe Basingstoke, the Colchester Mercury and many more.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Television appearances include Holby City (BBC), Dr Who (BBC), Lovejoy (BBC), Diana: Her True Story (NBC), The New Professionals (Thames), The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries (BBC), Smack the Pony (Channel 4) and Hollyoaks (Channel 4). Marcus is probably best known for his two-year stint playing regular character Nathan Cuddington in Brookside (Channel 4).

Tickets on 01403 750220 or www.thecapitolhorsham.com.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make our website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page

3 Follow us on Twitter

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

Be part of it.