Separate Tables
- Episode aired Mar 15, 1970
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
33
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The stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth which features dining at "Separate Tables."The stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth which features dining at "Separate Tables."The stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth which features dining at "Separate Tables."
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Did you know
- TriviaThe character of Anne Shankland was based on Jean Dawnay, a close friend of Rattigan.
- Quotes
Mr. Fowler: The trouble about being on the side of right, as one sees it, is that one often finds oneself in the company of such very questionable allies.
- ConnectionsVersion of Separate Tables (1958)
Featured review
Rather Astounding Performances
A bit of an embarrassment for me here, while and after watching this simply wonderful version of Terence Rattigan's famously successful play and movie. The joy was in watching the performances of the usual cartload of incredibly brilliant English actors who seem to populate all such offerings. I won't say anything more about them except that their performances are so uniformly excellent that it is hard to imagine this play being done any better, this also because the TV version is imaginatively photographed and directed. And now to the embarrassment.
I had only ever seen SEPARATE TABLES once before, and that in the classic 1958 film version starring Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Deborah Kerr and Wendy Hiller, all estimable actors (indeed, Niven and Hiller won Academy Awards for it), all but perhaps Ms. Hiller major Hollywood stars, and all at the top of their form. What I had totally forgotten was that when the play was first produced, and for most if not all subsequent productions, the four leading 'romantic' roles were intended to be acted by the same two performers. When the play first hit Broadway, those four roles were played by two great British stars, Eric Portman and Margaret Leighton. They did not do this in the film version because 1) it may have been too noticeable to the audience that the leads in both stories were played by the same actors, and 2) in a pretty talky film based on a pretty talky play, the division of those four roles between four major film stars was surely seen as a greater box-office enticement to the general public on both sides of the ocean. So, I had forgotten all of this by the time this 1970 BBC telecast came my way in 2016. I knew from the IMDb cast listing that Eric Porter played the Major and Geraldine McEwan played the repressed daughter of a domineering mother in the second play, but since I didn't recognize many of the other names in the cast, when I watched it I simply thought I had missed the names of the leads in the first half of the play at the start of the show, and I eagerly awaited learning who they were when the final credits rolled. Well, when they did roll, I exclaimed rather loudly (although I was watching it by myself) "My God!" as I suddenly realized that the leads in both halves of the play were performed by Eric Porter (not to be confused with Eric Portman, dead by 1970) and Geraldine McEwan. I could see the former, upon contemplation, doing both, as the Major has a military-style mustache and tousled hair (both graying) and a standard British military bearing, whereas the character played in the first half is somewhat younger, clean-shaven, his hair regularly combed and dark, and his voice a bit less upper class, although the characters and interpretation of same were nothing alike, but Ms. McEwan's assumption of both roles just astounded me, still does, and will likely do so for all of my remaining days. Looking at her glamorous aging model with the low sexy voice in the first play, I could not imagine how that same actress could appear, apparently sans all make-up and with what appeared to be an entirely different and bedraggled body and countenance in the second half. Mr. Porter's characters were both at least dynamic and outgoing in a certain kind of way, but those played by Ms. McEwen were as diverse as if she had been doing Auntie Mame in the first half and the deaf mute in JOHNNY BELINDA in the second half. An absolutely amazing transference of personalities in voice, appearance and general demeanor in the course of 90 minutes. I've never quite seen its like, not even from Peter Sellers in DR. STRANGELOVE (which is the closest parallel I can think to it). And then I recalled that the last time I'd seen Ms. McEwan (a noted Shakespearean as well) was in the PBS series of Miss Marple adventures about a decade back, and that it was amazing how easily she had so easily morphed into yet another persona for that series.
This is a play that fairly rivets you once you let yourself get into it, an ensemble acting opportunity rarely afforded this particular kind of acting style anymore, and it simply could not be better performed than it is here. Bravo to one and all!
I had only ever seen SEPARATE TABLES once before, and that in the classic 1958 film version starring Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Deborah Kerr and Wendy Hiller, all estimable actors (indeed, Niven and Hiller won Academy Awards for it), all but perhaps Ms. Hiller major Hollywood stars, and all at the top of their form. What I had totally forgotten was that when the play was first produced, and for most if not all subsequent productions, the four leading 'romantic' roles were intended to be acted by the same two performers. When the play first hit Broadway, those four roles were played by two great British stars, Eric Portman and Margaret Leighton. They did not do this in the film version because 1) it may have been too noticeable to the audience that the leads in both stories were played by the same actors, and 2) in a pretty talky film based on a pretty talky play, the division of those four roles between four major film stars was surely seen as a greater box-office enticement to the general public on both sides of the ocean. So, I had forgotten all of this by the time this 1970 BBC telecast came my way in 2016. I knew from the IMDb cast listing that Eric Porter played the Major and Geraldine McEwan played the repressed daughter of a domineering mother in the second play, but since I didn't recognize many of the other names in the cast, when I watched it I simply thought I had missed the names of the leads in the first half of the play at the start of the show, and I eagerly awaited learning who they were when the final credits rolled. Well, when they did roll, I exclaimed rather loudly (although I was watching it by myself) "My God!" as I suddenly realized that the leads in both halves of the play were performed by Eric Porter (not to be confused with Eric Portman, dead by 1970) and Geraldine McEwan. I could see the former, upon contemplation, doing both, as the Major has a military-style mustache and tousled hair (both graying) and a standard British military bearing, whereas the character played in the first half is somewhat younger, clean-shaven, his hair regularly combed and dark, and his voice a bit less upper class, although the characters and interpretation of same were nothing alike, but Ms. McEwan's assumption of both roles just astounded me, still does, and will likely do so for all of my remaining days. Looking at her glamorous aging model with the low sexy voice in the first play, I could not imagine how that same actress could appear, apparently sans all make-up and with what appeared to be an entirely different and bedraggled body and countenance in the second half. Mr. Porter's characters were both at least dynamic and outgoing in a certain kind of way, but those played by Ms. McEwen were as diverse as if she had been doing Auntie Mame in the first half and the deaf mute in JOHNNY BELINDA in the second half. An absolutely amazing transference of personalities in voice, appearance and general demeanor in the course of 90 minutes. I've never quite seen its like, not even from Peter Sellers in DR. STRANGELOVE (which is the closest parallel I can think to it). And then I recalled that the last time I'd seen Ms. McEwan (a noted Shakespearean as well) was in the PBS series of Miss Marple adventures about a decade back, and that it was amazing how easily she had so easily morphed into yet another persona for that series.
This is a play that fairly rivets you once you let yourself get into it, an ensemble acting opportunity rarely afforded this particular kind of acting style anymore, and it simply could not be better performed than it is here. Bravo to one and all!
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- joe-pearce-1
- Jul 5, 2016
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