The Sunshine Coast's Driftwood Players are poised to launch their latest production, British playwright Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables, which opens at Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons on Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.
Set in an affordable but slightly seedy seaside boarding house in Bournemouth, England in the 1930s, the play is a sometimes harsh, sometimes compassionate look at its longer-term residents, who in another age might have been regarded as "gentlefolk living in reduced circumstances."
Not all are what they seem, however, and one character in particular is anxious to conceal not only his past but also some unsavoury events of the present. With a cast of 12, the play is rich in character with a good mix of seasoned local actors and younger, nonetheless talented performers. Separate Tables is directed by Driftwood veteran David Short. The cast features Colleen Elson as the snobbish and unforgiving Mrs. Railton-Bell, Nest Lewis as the slightly off-centre Miss Meacham, Bryan Carson as Major Pollock, Richard Lund as ex-schoolmaster Mr. Fowler, with Jennifer Holzer, Gail Lewis, Roberta Sainsbury, Randy Schmidt, Tamara Davies, Patrick Harvey, Phaedra McConnell and Rebecca Smith in strong supporting roles.
Doors open on opening night at 7.30 p.m. with curtain at 8. Tickets are available at the usual outlets, Coast Books, Hallmark Cards and Talewind Books at $6 for first night and the first Saturday matinee on Nov. 13. All other performances are $12. Separate Tables runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for three weeks.
