Synopsis

The Bear Pit Theatre Company brings Alan Ayckbourn’s comic trilogy masterpiece, The Norman Conquests, to Stratford-upon-Avon, with an ensemble cast of six actors, directed by Nicky Cox in The Bear Pit’s newly reconfigured theatre-in-the-round.

Just choose a perspective, the dining room (Table Manners), the living room (Living Together) or the garden (Round and Round the Garden) or of course you can piece the puzzle together and get the whole picture by seeing all three play in any order you like.

The Norman Conquests is three interconnecting plays, Table Manners, Living Together and Round and Round the Garden, follow Norman, his in-laws and the local vet over a summer weekend in an English country house.

Norman is intent on making all the women in his life happy and takes every opportunity to seduce his sister-in-law Annie, charm his brother-in-law’s wife Sarah and woo his wife Ruth – embroiling everyone in the action along the way with both tragic and comic consequences.

On these award-winning plays, Ayckbourn focuses his inimitable, sharp, acerbic wit to reveal the secrets, lies and deception, which bubble beneath the surface of family relationships.

Alan Ayckbourn is one of Britain’s most popular and prolific playwrights, with over 80 full-length plays to his name, which have been translated into more than 35 languages. These multi-award-winning plays include Absurd Person Singular, recently revived in the West End plus Just Between Ourselves, A Chorus of Disapproval, Woman in Mind and House & Garden to name but a few.

Bear Pit Associate Artist, Nicky Cox returns to The Bear Pit after assisting on a sell-out success of Tartuffe at the RSCs’ Swan Theatre. Nicky’s other recent productions at The Bear Pit include, The 39 Steps, One Man Two Guvnors & Brief Encounter. Nicky was also part of the directing team for the RSC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation.