The Alan Ayckbourn Collection

Six plays from the Olivier, Tony®, and Moliére Award winning playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn:

Table Manners: The Norman Conquests Part 1 England’s famous seducer of other men’s wives lays siege to his sister-in-law in the first “battle." A middle-class family trying to have a pleasant country weekend is no match for Norman, who horrifies everyone by doing exactly as he likes.

Living Together: The Norman Conquests Part 2 In the second “battle” Norman gets drunk on homemade wine—and all hell breaks loose. He unleashes his merry brand of manipulative charm on the hapless guests and even his most formidable opponents go down in defeat on the drawing room rug.

Round and Round the Garden: The Norman Conquests Part 3 In the third “battle” the setting is Mother’s overgrown English garden, where something more troublesome than brambles lurks among the roses. Havoc ensues as this satirical masterpiece makes its way to a hilarious conclusion.

The Norman Conquests cast list includes Rosalind Ayres as Sarah, Kenneth Danziger as Reg, Martin Jarvis as Norman, Jane Leeves as Annie, Christopher Neame as Tom, and Carolyn Seymour as Ruth. Directed by Dennis Erdman.

Just Between Ourselves This is the first of Ayckbourn’s darkly comic masterpieces involves a relentlessly cheerful handyman in a disastrously fractured marriage. Two couples develop an unlikely friendship in this painfully funny portrait of British suburban life. Cast list includes Gia Carides as Pam, Kenneth Danziger as Dennis, Judy Geeson as Vera, Miriam Margolyes as Marjorie and Alfred Molina as Neil. Directed by Waris Hussein.

Henceforward... Writers block, divorce and a female robot. These are the ingredients for the hilarious Henceforward... Ayckbourn writes about the not so distant future of what lengths a man will go to regain inspiration, gain the love of his daughter, and redress the pain of his past. Cast list includes Jared Harris as Jerome, Anne Heche as Nan (Act I) and Corrina, Jack Davenport as Mervyn, Paula Jane Newman as Geain, Moira Quirk as Zoe and Nan (Act II) and Darren Richardson as Lupus. Directed by Martin Jarvis.

Man of the Moment The price of accidental fame is hashed out in this comedy about a famous bank robber and the clerk who foiled his biggest heist, inspired by the Great Train Robbery of 1963. Ayckbourn’s 1988 play anticipates the popularity—and absurdity—of reality TV. Cast list includes Rosalind Ayres as Jill Rillington, Jane Carr as Trudy Parks, Kenneth Danziger as Douglas Beechey, Martin Jarvis as Vic Parks, Ian Ogilvy as Kenny Collins and Yeardley Smith as Sharon Giffin. Directed by Robert Robinson.

© 2011 L.A. Theatre Works (Audiobook): 9781580818438

Release date

Audiobook: September 15, 2011