A cast of eight will play 22 characters in the regional première of Tanya Ronder’s drama Table at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The play which was first produced at the National Theatre in 2013 explores how people remain connected by stories and heirlooms passed down by their ancestors. Set in four distinct timeframes, Table begins in Lichfield in 1898 before spanning a century in the lives of a Staffordshire family.
New Vic associate director Zoë Waterman directs. She said, “it feels really exciting to be bringing this play to the New Vic for its regional première. The play is an epic tale following six generations of one family across two world wars and a journey to East Africa.
“At the heart of the story is a wooden table passed from generation to generation of the family right up to the present day. It’s a story about identity, belonging and the things we pass on and I’m looking forward to sharing it with audiences on our stage.”
Krissi Bohn who was in the national tour of Kay Adshead’s one-woman play The Bogus Woman in 2015 takes the roles of Margaret, Sister Hope and Stacey in Table.
Phil Cheadle, who was Hernando in The Cardinal by James Shirley at Southwark Playhouse in 2017, plays Gideon and Jack. Henry Everett is David and Julian, while Marc Geoffrey takes the roles of Finley, Anthony and Chris. Emma Lau plays Su-Lin, Sister Babette, Aisha and Jess.
Polly Lister, who was last at the New Vic in March 2018 in Theresa Heskins’s adaptation of Elizabeth Robins’s Votes for Women, returns to play Michelle, Mother Superior, Barbara and Veronique.
Katherine Manners who played Kathleen in Rodney Ackland’s Before The Party, based on a short story by W Somerset Maugham, at Salisbury Playhouse in May 2017 will play Elizabeth and Sarah. Paul Mundell, who appeared in the National Theatre production of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre in 2017, completes the cast as Albert and Orion.
Table runs at the New Vic from Friday 8 until Saturday 23 June.