Alan Ayckbourn enjoyed an unrivalled reputation during the 1970s and 80s. Several of his plays ran successfully in London’s West End – frequently simultaneously – and he was featured regularly on television and radio. More recently he has become less prolific, but still his plays might be considered safe bets for anyone interested in putting them on the professional or amateur stage.

 

Whether his plays are any good is a different matter. As I listened to Gordon House’s revival of Table Manners, I became more and more aware of the fact that his characters are deeply unpleasant, imprisoned by their obsessions and completely oblivious to others. The eponymous central character Norman (Robin Herford) is a serial philanderer who takes pleasure in seducing women and remains indifferent to his wife Ruth. His sister-in-law Sarah (Tessa Peake-Jones) organizes other people to compensate for her monotonous life in the family home. Ayckbourn’s conception of gender roles remains deeply conservative: women exist to clean, make meals and serve their male partners, while men spend their time complaining about their apparent neglect.  Perhaps The Norman Conquests should be approached as a period piece, rather like The Good Life on television - the product of a period in British history when feminism had made little impact on the popular consciousness (especially men), and it was still thought funny to write about suburban life.