Chester Theatre Group

Performances: May 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25 & 26

SHOW BACKGROUND

For the first time in more than 20 years, the full trilogy comes to New Jersey’s BLACK RIVER PLAYHOUSE in CHESTER. Staged in the round, in rotating repertory, as it was originally directed by Alan Ayckbourn for it’s premiere in England in 1973! A cast of six actors in three plays take us through a comic weekend in a country home, each play telling the same story from a different area of the house. Ayckbourn’s comic masterpiece!

This brilliant comic trilogy details the amorous exploits of Norman, assistant librarian, whose one aim is to make the women in his life happy. These women being – as it happens, three sisters – one them his wife, who can’t wear contact lenses because “Life with Norman is full of unexpected eye movements.” Each play stands uproariously on its own, yet interlocks with the others to form an ingenious Chinese puzzle of successive revelations.

The Norman Conquests is a trilogy of plays written in 1973 by Alan Ayckbourn. There are only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth’s sister Annie, and Tom, Annie’s next-door-neighbour. The plays are at times wildly comic, and at times poignant in their portrayals of the relationships between six more or less unhappy characters.

Each of the plays depicts the same six characters over the same weekend in a different part of a house. Table Manners is set in the dining room, Living Together in the living room, and Round and Round the Garden in the garden. Each play is self-contained, and they may be watched in any order. Some of the scenes overlap, and on several occasions a character’s exit from one play corresponds with an entrance in another. The plays were not written to be performed simultaneously, however – although Ayckbourn did achieve that some twenty-five years later in House & Garden.

The plays were first performed in Scarborough, before a season in London, with a cast that included Tom Courtenay as Norman, Penelope Keith as Sarah, Felicity Kendal as Annie and Michael Gambon as Tom. Penelope Keith reprised her role as Sarah in the televised version, filmed in 1978, in which Tom Conti played Norman, Penelope Wilton played Annie, and Richard Briers played Reg.

QUOTES ABOUT “THE NORMAN CONQUESTS”

” … crisp, lustful, egotistical, funny, endearing, ingenious – taking a perceptive look at marriages in general.” – Martin Gottfried, New York Post

“… Ayckbourn displays once more his knack for scrambled small talk, for pyramiding the comic possibilities of everyday trivia.” – John Beaufort, The Christian Science Monitor

“… highly diverting … whether you take it in one, two, or three swallows, you will enjoy your potion.” — Edwin Wilson, The Wall Street Journal

“To see one – any one – is to see a funny and intelligent farce. To see all three is to see an amazing piece of virtuosity.” – Jack Kroll, Newsweek

“A superb comic trilogy … What has long seemed likely is now clear: Ayckbourn, the Kingsley Amis of the stage, is the most remarkable British dramatist to have emerged since Harold Pinter.” – J.W. Lambert, The Sunday Times

“Wildly funny, beautifully written” – Barry Took, Punch

“One of the most remarkable enterprises in the British theatre since the war. Mr. Ayckbourn used farce to illuminate small nooks of human desolation; and he commands a devastating psychological accuracy which Chekhov would have been impressed by.” – The Times Literary Supplement

“Alan Ayckbourn’s brilliance, his wit and compassion will give great pleasure to many people.” – Frank Marcus, The Sunday Telegraph

“Ayckbourn is a diabolically clever devil of a playwright … His treatment of time and space is technically dazzling.” – Clive Barnes, The New York Times

“To write one brilliant comedy is a feat. To write three in a row, all about the same people, is a tour de force so exceptional I can only throw my hat in the air and rejoice.” – John Barber, Daily Telegraph

“A landmark of theatrical achievement.” – The Daily Mail

“The Norman Conquests is not only funny but impossibly wise about sex, marriage, love, and loneliness.” – Frank Rich, Time

BIOGRAPHIES

Michael T. Mooney (Director) has staged more than 55 productions in our area. He previously directed acclaimed CTG productions of Ayckbourn’s SNAKE IN THE GRASS, BODY LANGUAGE, FAMILY CIRCLES (all were American premieres), TIME OF MY LIFE, and RELATIVELY SPEAKING. Other CTG directorial credits include TALKING HEADS, A PERFECT GANESH, THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST, WAYS & MEANS, BABY WITH THE BATHWATER, and ENCHANTED APRIL. On the Chester stage he has appeared in TALKING HEADS, ART, ARCADIA, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, DROOD, MARVIN’S ROOM, SWEENEY TODD, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and SHE LOVES ME. For five years, Michael has studied directing and writing for theatre-in-the-round with Sir Alan Ayckbourn in Scarborough, England. Professionally, he is Manager of Outreach and Access Programs for Paper Mill, the State Theatre of New Jersey, and serves on the boards of the New Jersey Cultural Access Network, The Fund for the New Jersey Blind, Audio-Description International and L.E.A.D. – Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability. He is the 2003 recipient of the Community Law Foundation’s Ann Klein Advocacy Award for his work with senior citizens and people with disabilities.

Penny Hoadley (Producer) produced THE NORMAN CONQUESTS for BRP in 1986. She has been seen onstage in many productions here and serves as President of the Board. She resides in Brookside with her husband David.

Alan Ayckbourn (Playwright) is considered the world’s most frequently performed English language playwright outside Shakespeare, Alan Ayckbourn was born in 1939 in suburban London. He attended Haileybury School and afterward went on tour with Sir Donald Wolfitt (immortalized in the Ronald Harwood play THE DRESSER) as a stage hand. He came to Scarborough in 1958 to work with Stephen Joseph’s Library Theatre in the Round and has made this his home ever since. Ayckbourn recently finished his 70th play, IF I WERE YOU, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where the majority of his work premieres and he serves as Artistic Director. Some of his plays include: RELATIVELY SPEAKING, SNAKE IN THE GRASS, WOMAN IN MIND, FAMILY CIRCLES, TIME OF MY LIFE, BODY LANGUAGE and ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR – all of which were presented on this stage. Next month, Ayckbourn will bring his Stephen Joseph Company to New York’s Brits Off-Broadway Festival for his epic INTIMATE EXCHANGES – eight inter-connected plays with 16 possible endings all stemming from a single moment. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to theatre and is married to Heather Stoney.

John Pattison (Original Music) has enjoyed a long association with Alan Ayckbourn, composing scores for many new Ayckbourn plays since 1990, including four West End runs: TIME OF MY LIFE (1994), COMMUNICATING DOORS (1995), THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE (1998), and COMIC POTENTIAL (1999). He also wrote the score for Ayckbourn’s HOUSE & GARDEN at the Royal National Theatre (2000). His score for COMIC POTENTIAL was subsequently used for the American premiere of the play at The Manhattan Theater Club, New York (2000). John composed the scores for two Alain Resnais films based upon Ayckbourn’s play INTIMATE EXCHANGES: SMOKING and NO SMOKING (France 1993). These won five Cesar awards and Best Film at the Berlin International Film festival in 1994. CTG audiences have heard his music in our productions of SNAKE IN THE GRASS, TIME OF MY LIFE and BODY LANGUAGE. He resides in Scarborough, England, with his wife and teaches at nearby Westwood College.

Other Alan Ayckbourn plays seen at Black River Playhouse: Table Manners, The Norman Conquests (1986), Absurd Person Singular, Woman in Mind, Time of My Life, Relatively Speaking, Body Language, Snake in the Grass, Family Circles.

THE CAST

Chris Mortenson (Norman) hails from Oldwick. He recently appeared at BRP as William Shakespeare in THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS.

David C. Neal (Reg) lives in Fanwood with his wife. He is making his Chester debut, but recently appeared in a Shakespeare play with a ‘Scottish’ flavor.

Carol Holland (Sarah) is from Long Valley and returns to BRP after having served as assistant director on our production of A DOLL’S HOUSE. She is originally from Vancouver Canada, where she appeared in Ayckbourn’s SISTERLY FEELINGS.

Roxanna Wagner (Ruth) is a long-standing BRP performer, whose most recent credits include playing Queen Elizabeth the first in our season opener, THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS.

Patrick Carpenter (Tom) of Somerset is making his BRP debut, but is active in community theatre. He produced ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN at another theatre many years ago.

Ruth Morley (Annie) is a resident of Ridgewood in Bergen County where she played the role of Ruth in TABLE MANNERS a few seasons ago. She also appeared in Ayckbourn’s A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL. She brings with her a genuine English accent as she is originally from the UK.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

TABLE MANNERS

• Friday, May 4 at 8pm
• Saturday, May 5 at 8pm
• Sunday, May 13 at 3pm
• Sunday, May 20 at 8pm
• Saturday, May 26 at 8pm

LIVING TOGETHER

• Friday, May 11 at 8pm
• Saturday, May 12 at 8pm
• Sunday, May 20 at 4pm
• Friday, May 25 at 8pm

ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN

• Friday, May 18 at 8pm
• Saturday, May 19 at 8pm
• Sunday, May 20 at 1pm
• Thursday, May 24 at 8pm

MARATHON SUNDAY!

All three plays back to back!
Includes afternoon tea and
a break for dinner.
Sunday, May 20 starting at 1pm

Single ticket for the Marathon (includes afternoon tea) – $35.00

TICKET PRICING

Advance Sales (payment prior to day of performance)

• One Play – $15.00
• Two Plays – $25.00
• Three Plays – $30.00

Single Tickets (unpaid reservations; at door sales) $18.00

Students & Seniors $15.00 (not Saturday evenings)

RESERVATION HOTLINE: 908.879.7304