All human beings are extraordinary, declares Miss Cooper, the bedrock of the Beauregard Hotel in Bournemouth and the plot mainspring for both one act plays in Rattigan’s  Separate Tables.

It is Miss Cooper, in an inspiring performance by Bernadette Bryan, who understands the desperation of loneliness and the depth of depravity to which its sufferers will sink.

Godfrey Guinan as the fake Major and Deirdre Daly as the neurotic divorcee give full rein to the implications of their deceit, but it’s a measure of both their ability and Rattigan’s language that we never lose sympathy with either.

Great fun was had from a colourful cast of hotel residents by Alexandra Knight and Yvette Saunders in particular, ably supported by Kaz Doward, Emma Mahony, and Mark Parker with the proper amount of waitress cheek from Miriam Lorenzo-Gonzalez.

But if hotel regulars seem a little dated, disgraced politicians are all too real. Nick Lazar invested Mr. Malcolm with a shaggy allure which convinced utterly: of course Miss Cooper loved him even if we doubt Mrs. Shankland. Extraordinary people? Extraordinary playwright.