Set in a slightly shabby hotel in Bournemouth, two separate stories of love and loss are played out before the genteel residents. In the first, a former model arrives to attempt a reconciliation with her ex-husband. In the second, a timid young woman tries to stand up to her domineering mother by defending the criminal actions of a fake major. Condemnation and compassion are meted out by the other guests, with some surprising consequences.

Michael Billington of The Guardian said Rattigan was ‘a great playwright who understood better than most the inequality of passion and the fear of emotional expression that haunts our national psyche,’ while The British Theatre Guide describes the characters in Separate Tables as ‘exquisitely drawn’.