A tale of belonging and identity

This July and August, the Seymour Centre will present Tanya Ronder's play Table, a tale of belonging, identity and the things we pass on.

In 1898 master craftsman David Best makes a table to celebrate his marriage. In Tanganyika in the 1950s, the Bests’ missionary grand-daughter, Sarah, stands atop the table and voluntarily disrobes in front of the hunter who has saved her from a leopard attack. Later, Sarah and her son Gideon join a 1960s commune. And in south London in 2013, the globe-trotting Gideon finally confronts the family he abandoned years ago to discover a likeable brat in a flamingo pink tutu spouting Mandarin Chinese.

Through it all David’s table is the centre of family rituals, meals and secrets, where couples have sex, where children play, where a corpse is laid out, where songs are sung and names are carved deep in to its grooves. Each mark is a point in time, each scratch a moment lost but not forgotten.

Directed by Kim Hardwick (The Shifting Heart, Mercury Fur at KXT), Table will star Julian Garner, Chantelle Jamieson, Danielle King, Mathew Lee, Brendan Miles, Nicole Pingon, Annie Stafford, Kaitlyn Thor, Charles Upton.

Director Kim Hardick says “From the first line, ‘I hate this table’ to the last line, ‘love of the father’ I raced through the reading of this play. It made me laugh out loud and sob from my heart and I knew it was very special”.

Set and Costume Designer Isabel Hudson, Lighting Designer Martin Kinnane, Composer and Sound Designer Nate Edmondson.

25th July to 17th August, Tuesday to Saturday 7:30pm, matinees at 2pm Saturdays and 11am Thursday 15th August. $45 | Concession $35. Bookings: https://www.seymourcentre.com/events/event/table/ or (02) 9351 7940