THE NORMAN CONQUESTS Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 2:24am

It's Thursday, the 23rd of April, marking the official opening night performance for the new Broadway production of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests. Playing the Circle in the Square Theatre, this mounting began previews April 7.

First seen on Broadway in the 1970's, The Norman Conquests includes three full-length plays: Table Manners, Living Together and Round and Round the Garden.

The three comedies are playing in repertory. This strictly limited run - through July 26 - is the Broadway debut of the acclaimed 2008 production seen at The Old Vic in London.
The cast, comprised of Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter, and Amanda Root, and director Matthew Warchus reprise their roles in this production.

The plays will be performed on a rotating schedule during the week and can also be seen in a one-day marathon on "Trilogy Saturdays" with performances at 11:30 AM, 3:30 PM and 8 PM.

Set in the dining room (Table Manners), living room (Living Together) and garden (Round and Round the Garden) of an English country house, The Norman Conquests "follows six characters - assistant librarian Norman, his wife, in-laws and the local vet from Saturday night through Monday morning. We watch as desperate lothario Norman attempts to seduce his sister-in-law Annie, charm his brother-in-law's wife Sarah and woo his estranged wife Ruth, during a disastrously hilarious weekend of eating, drinking and misunderstanding. With his characteristic compassionate humor, Ayckbourn explores the disappointments bubbling beneath the surface as his characters' dreams of love and fulfillment go amiss."

My absolute to the cast and crew!

Let us welcome Norman to the Great White Way!

Best,
- Mike .



Updated On: 4/23/09 at 02:24 AM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:19pm

Time is a Rave.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1893511,00.html

"First produced in 1973, it's one of [Ayckbourn's] most grandly entertaining works: three plays that chronicle the same traumatic family weekend in an English country house from three vantage points--dining room, sitting room and garden. It is packed with laughs, brimming with stage tomfoolery (a character who leaves the dining room in one play shows up in the sitting room in the next) and staged superbly by Matthew Warchus, in a production first seen at London's Old Vic Theatre... The new Norman Conquests is pitch-perfect."

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:33pm

I'm glad Time is a rave, but they barely mention this production at all. The reviewer seems more concerned with convincing everyone that Ayckbourn is a brilliant playwright than reviewing this outing of his work.

[lightinthepizza2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:54pm

The Time article isn't a review.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 3:58pm

"The new Norman Conquests is pitch-perfect."

Seems like a great pull quote to me, review or not.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 4:01pm

I would be thrilled in Brantley singled out each of the actors in his review. Hell I would give them all their own paragraph of praise!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 4:38pm

>The Time article isn't a review.<

It sort of is. Richard Zoglin is Time's theatre critic. While this is an essay about Ayckbourn's position in the world of theatre and wondering why he is not often mentioned in the same breath as Stoppard or Hare, it certainly contains review-like elements of the current production.

Updated On: 4/23/09 at 04:38 PM

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 5:26pm

What a great article on Mr. Ayckbourn. I will be at opening night tonight, wonder if he will be too.

Best of luck to NORMAN and the cast with the reviews!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 5:32pm

I don't think that's a review; I think it's just a profile on Ayckbourn.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 8:07pm

The Associated Press is a Rave:

"Besides its verbal dexterity, "The Norman Conquests" is blessed with some nimble physical comedy: Watch that poor vet sit uncomplaining on the smallest of chairs during a dinner from hell; or as Reg acts out actions the movement of chess pieces while the group tries to play an unbelievably complicated board game he has devised; or as the nearsighted Ruth does battle with a lawn chair _ and loses.

In London, the Old Vic's legendary proscenium auditorium was converted into an in-the-round theater, something already in place at Circle in the Square. The plays fit snugly into the space, bringing the audience almost into eyeball proximity with all the addictive, onstage tribulations.

Seeing one play in "The Norman Conquests" is a pleasure. Watching a second is even better. Add a third and you will get the full force of Ayckbourn's expert theatrical delirium."

http://www.newser.com/article/d97of7do4/alan-ayckbourn-provides-a-triple-dose-of-superb-comedy-in-the-norman-conquests.html


Variety is a Rave:

"Woody Allen in his prime was a great proponent of the theory that comedies should do the job in 90 minutes. Thankfully, Alan Ayckbourn must have missed that memo. Over seven hours of hilarious peaks and contemplative valleys, his 1973 trilogy "The Norman Conquests" delivers more laughs than ought to be legal while steadily expanding our perspective on the needling dissatisfaction beneath the comic chaos of his characters' lives. There's no such lack of audience fulfillment in the richly rewarding revival transferring from London's Old Vic, its structural ingenuity matched by an exceptional cast and by the supple modulations of Matthew Warchus' direction."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940111.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

Updated On: 4/23/09 at 08:07 PM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 8:09pm

Great news so far. This show deserves to get rave reviews...

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 8:11pm

I'd call the Associated Press review a rave.

[broadwayman17]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 9:03pm

Entertainment Weekly: Rave/A
"To see or not to see the entire trilogy...that is the question. You won't offend Alan Ayckbourn if you don't see every part (Table Manners, Living Together, and Round and Round the Garden); he constructed each 1973 comedy as a stand-alone evening: 'Any suggestion that it was essential to see all three plays to appreciate any one of them would probably result in no audience at all,' he says in the preface to Conquests' published edition. Will you want to see all of them? Given this smashing revival imported from London's Kevin Spacey-run Old Vic Theatre, the answer is an unqualified yes."
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20274472,00.html

[James2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 10:36pm

The New York Times is a Rave

"'Oh' is not widely acknowledged as one of the funniest words in English. Nor does the simple 'aah' generally induce convulsive giggles. Yet these unassuming monosyllables acquire brute force in the topping, London-born revival of Alan Ayckbourn?s 'Norman Conquests,' crippling you with laughter that shakes the body and, more subversively, fractures the soul.

The response these words elicit is in inverse proportion to the volume at which they are spoken. They are usually uttered quietly, as reflexively as you or I might say them in the course of an average day. But 'oh' and 'aah' are stealth killers ? variously packed with surprise, disappointment, anger, triumph and confusion ? in the context of the trilogy of plays now in giddy rotation at the Circle in the Square. And they keep gathering strength during the seven speeding hours it takes to perform Mr. Ayckbourn?s three comedies, first staged in the early 1970s and looking younger and healthier than ever in the production that opened Thursday night."

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/theater/reviews/24norm.html

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:01pm

Backstage is a Rave:

http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-broadway/the-norman-conquests-1003966081.story

The Hollywood Reporter is a Rave:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/esearch/searchResult.jsp?exp=y&D=%22Theater+Review%22&Ntt=%22Theater+Review%22&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=THRSearch&an=thr&nor=10&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Ns=FORMATTED_DATE|1

The Wall Street Journal is a Rave:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052769963750221.html#mod=article-outset-box

John Simon is a Rave:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601098&sid=aGlsvXopBns0&refer=movie

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:07pm

NY1 [with video] is a Rave:

http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/theater_reviews/Default.aspx

[yay_gerb]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:11pm

i'd say this is doing fairly well lol...straight raves! congrats to them. hope their ticket sales pick up!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:11pm

I think we've found our winner for Best Revival of a Play. Maybe?

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:14pm

Sorry that Matthew didn't rave, loves, but he's Positive:

The Norman Conquests is no Coast of Utopia. It lacks that work?s majesty and sense of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and because its chapters happen essentially simultaneously rather than sequentially, seeing all three chapters is not that much different than merely seeing one. And although there are some secret pleasures to be had by those who conquer the full trio, they?re not exactly powerful, profound, or prurient in any earth-shaking way. You?ll leave the theater entertained, but not changed - this is one theatrical outing where the memories don?t burn as brightly as the during-the-event moments.

http://talkinbroadway.com/world/index.html

Updated On: 4/23/09 at 11:14 PM

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:14pm

Very nice. Definitely want to see this.

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:22pm

Insane reviews. So happy for the NORMAN CONQUESTS

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:23pm

Yeah, NORMAN CONQUESTS'll probably win Best Revival. EXIT THE KING has some detractors who just don't like the play, MARY STUART will probably be seen as an actor's showcase (as WAITING FOR GODOT probably will, too), JOE TURNER probably won't have the buzz to beat NORMAN, etc.

I think the only thing that could topple NORMAN is if people get the idea that you won't get the proper enjoyment of the play(s) unless you see all three and spend $300. I hope that doesn't happen.

(and after the New York Times review and plug, if THE SEAGULL doesn't at least get a few nominations, Brantley is heading the way of the voters with a gun and a tight smile. It's nice to see a major writer plugging a long-gone show that way after Frank Rich's writing for SUNDAY IN THE PARK.)

[GIZMO2]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:25pm

Wow. Okay folks. I guess we all gotta go.

Amazing reviews. Congrats!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:29pm

I can't wait to see LIVING TOGETHER! Loved, love, loved TABLE MANNERS, was iffy on ROUND AND ROUND. But I would go see this cast read the phonebook.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 4/23/09 at 11:36pm

rOcKs, I saw the first two and loved them both especially Table Manners, some scene had me dying. You will love Living Together. I am hesitant about Round and Round now that you said it was iffy. I normally go off of your opinions to see a show.