Messy, Chaotic and Completely Captivating: Table 17 at Kiln Theatre

I attended the press night for Table 17, a production directed by Zhailon Levingston and written by Douglas Lyons. I was automatically sat when I heard the plot of this play due to the fact I love a messy and chaotic romcom. I’m very nosey and like a lot of other people, find it entertaining watching our own and others’ dating woes laid out for us on a stage or screen. 

“Can love only be real if it doesn't end? Can love only be rich if it lasts?”

Imagine this: your EX-fiancée texts you to meet up.  After two years have already passed, they ask you out on a date. You accept, but with no idea what to expect from this encounter. The question is, can time apart really heal all? This was the preface for the 1 hour and 35 minute production that kept me engaged and laughing the entire way through. 

I hate to say it, and to some this may be a lazy comparison, but I couldn’t help but draw some similarities to Shifters with the themes explored in this production. The longing of love was apparent, the opportunity to witness a relationship across the majority of its life span (with multiple time jumps), but also with the lighting pushing the narrative in a way that a lot of plays don’t.

I was in awe of the work being done by Lighting Designer, Matt Haskins, whose extensive CV explains the creativity and experience that was displayed in the show. It is underestimated how large of a part lighting can play in storytelling, with the use of cool colours for deeper and darker moments, and warmer colours such as pink and red for the jovial and funnier parts. The use of music and soundtracking was a beautiful way to illustrate the story with sound, particularly when we were jumping across time periods. This was another way in which it was similar to Shifters. I love hearing music that I love on stage, it really adds more depth to my endearment towards a song. We were sat in our seats singing along to R&B classics, which really got the audience in the love kinda mood!

The embedment of queerness into a seemingly romantically heterosexual story was a great touch, which I think appealed to the audience in a way other love stories on stage don’t. As soon as the host (Michael Rishawn) addressed the “gays” in the audience, there were a significant number of cheers! Representation is essential in contemporary art, and that expands beyond race. Within black art, I love the casual involvement of identity in a way that doesn’t feel performative or like a parade. What I didn’t like though, was the fact that the host had what many would perceive as a ‘typical male gay’ trope: always swiping on the apps, chronically single, can’t keep a man and always looking for companionship. 

This is an archetype that is commonly portrayed within the black community as well as online, the idea that queer people (specifically men) only exist within hypersexuality and don’t have the same desire to settle down and build a life with someone. It felt like an inaccurate representation of a very broad and colourful community. That being said, there’s only so much of a community you can represent through one character (that wasn’t even the lead) in 95 minutes. The time he spent with our attention was impactful regardless, and that is made clear by the fact that he is the only consistent actor that has been on all runs of this show since 2024.

As well as the bartender, Rishawn also played an additional two roles: Bar host and Eric. Though in the programme it says that the roles can be split across more than one person, there is an entertainment factor in watching him successfully shape shift into a whole other person, almost convincing us that the previous character he played never existed. He provided a lot of the comic relief throughout the show, and the sprinkles of contemporary references really made me chuckle when usually I would find them cringe, like his Saucy Santana reference of “quiet on the creek”.

I’m rarely a fan of plays without intervals. My general rule is that if a play is over 80 minutes it should have an interval. This one was 95. I was dreading the idea of sitting there for all that time and no break, but honestly? It didn’t need one! The time flew as if it was under 60 minutes. That’s the beauty in captivating and powerful storytelling, you genuinely get lost in the story. 

Lyons clearly knows how to make time fly without looking for moments to fill gaps. 

Another strength within the storytelling was the interactivity between the actors and the crowd. I LOVE a play that allows for audience participation and I think it’s an incredible skill developed by the actors to engage without allowing it to derail you from the script for too long. 

Even though the set remained the same, it was very innovative to watch how they changed it into so many different environments. From its original purpose of a bar, to an aircraft, to a basketball court - it helps paint the picture with more detail.

At some point in the story, it felt like the traditional narratives of the man being in the wrong were reversed. This was refreshing for someone who is passionate about (don’t shoot me now) the belief that [straight] women don’t take enough accountability within dating, in a way that didn’t incite ‘gender wars’ but just allowed perspective to broaden. You could tell the audience were presented with theories and questions that made them re-evaluate their own perception of dating and people. 

Whether you’re queer, straight or in-between; there were a lot of relatable and somewhat triggering conversations being had surrounding dating: getting ghosted and having the constant date rescheduling text or feeling like you’re not enough for the person you’re with. It shows the realness and rawness of love in all its shades, and Table 17 was the perfect embodiment of all of that. 

As the bar host said at the end of the show: “The lesson [of love] is not in the outcome, but the effort”.

Table 17 is running at the Kiln Theatre until 24th October