TAKE A LOOK-SEE:
See pictures from the 2003 MainStage production at HERE.

THE SKINNY:
A Restoration comedy of manners as imagined through the lens of a 1950s sitcom in which Lady Reveller, a trendsetting widow-in-the-know, must choose between the thrill of a straight flush or the security of a proper marriage.

The adaptation of this work was a three-year project that included research, the creation of additional dialogue, a development workshop presented at HERE's 2002 American Living Room festival (in association with Lincoln Center Theater), and again at the "Best of" series for the 2002 Living Room festival, and culminated in a final production at HERE's MainStage space, July 3-13, 2003.

The Village Voice warns, CARD GAMES ARE DANGEROUSLY ADDICTIVE!
Of the July 2003 production, Alexis Solokski of The Village Voice writes:

"Anyone who has wasted hours -- if not days or weeks -- hostage to computer solitaire will identify with the moral of this Restoration comedy: Card games are dangerously addictive; don't play them. But in Susan Centlivre's play, a host of winsome women find themselves hounded by the thrall of Basset. In this version, director Rachel Ford relocates this game show to a 1950s TV studio." (July 2, 2003)

THE APPROACH:
Rarely performed outside academia, this version of Susannah Centlivre's The Basset Table sought to transport audiences from the English Restoration to a 1950s television studio.

This adaptation also featured a cast of women playing 1950s-era TV starlets who speak lines peppered with verse and portray both male and female roles.

In the sitcom version of The Basset Table, 1950s actress Violet Meadows plays Lady Reveller, a trend-setting widow-in-the-know who must choose between the thrill of a straight flush or the security of a proper marriage with the charming, but oh-so-traditional Lord Worthy. Between scenes, the studio audience viewed live wardrobe changes and camera cues as starlets showcased the sponsors' products including Pursettes tampons and Cramden's wig powder.