TABLE MANNERS

This full-length stage play is the first part of a comic trilogy set in the English suburbs, collectively titled THE NORMAN CONQUESTS. The Norman of the title, nicely played by Martin Jarvis, is what youth now call a "player," a "dawg"--a seducer of other men's wives, who here pursues his sister-in-law (Rosalind Ayres). Though this full-cast reading, taped before a live audience, is pleasant enough, it fails to engage. Some necessary spark never ignites to make us care much about the characters. Y.R. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]