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Arguably the
most famous of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays and certainly amongst the most
successful,
The
Norman Conquests
are an early
landmark in Alan Ayckbourn’s writing career.
Yet for
something that is regarded as a milestone in 20th century British theatre,
the plays had a surprisingly pedestrian origin. In September 1972, in the
aftermath of the success of
Absurd
Person Singular at
the Library Theatre, Scarborough,
a reporter for a local newspaper (the precise publication being lost to time) asked Alan what
he planned to write next. Rather flippantly Alan replied he was thinking of
writing a trilogy as apparently he couldn’t think of anything else to say;
he did not mention this plan to any other publication and an end of season
report in The Stage quotes Alan as saying he would write a new play for the
following summer. Alan thought
nothing more of it until the newspaper in question ran a story in March 1973, while he
was way in London, stating his next project would be a trilogy. A panicked
call from The Library Theatre - totally unaware of this development -
enquired whether this was true. After a brief consideration, Alan decided it
wasn’t such a bad idea and began writing his first trilogy.
In one sense,
the inspiration for The Norman Conquests is the challenge it posed
for Alan to not only write and direct a trilogy, but also making it both
feasible and a success for the company in Scarborough.
The reality
of writing a trilogy was even more complex than it first appeared as
paramount in Alan’s mind was not only writing three plays which worked
together, but that were - in essence - independent of each other and that
could be seen in any order and not necessarily with either of the other two
plays. Alan was well aware the plays would dominate the Library Theatre’s
summer season and that the theatre relied on tourists who might not
necessarily be inclined to spend three nights of their holiday at the
theatre and who might be put off by a trilogy. As a result, the trilogy
nature of the plays was not emphasised nor that ultimate satisfaction
required seeing all three productions. This is most obvious in the fact the
trilogy did not have an over-arching name for the original production. The
title of
The
Norman Conquests
would come later in London, in the meantime the only overt reference to the
trilogy was the note: “A weekend view of the Norman Conquest” carried in
each programme.
The plays
were written simultaneously over a week in May 1973 with Alan writing each
play cross-wise (i.e. all the scenes ones after each other, than all of the
scenes twos etc). Despite this method of working, Alan Ayckbourn firmly
believes each play has its own very distinct character:
Table
Manners is the
funniest;
Round
And Round The Garden
the more casual and conventional;
Living
Together a slower
piece with a deliberate slackening of the pace. As to why Norman appears so
late in
Table
Manners
(the first of the plays to be rehearsed), this is simply because the actor
playing Norman, Christopher Godwin, was unavailable for the first week of
rehearsals and the script was written to accomodate this.
The plays (at
this point called:
Fancy
Meeting You,
Make
Yourself At Home and
Round And Round The Garden)
opened in the summer of 1973 at the Library Theatre and were an enormous
success, with the local press reporting the plays were selling out at every
performance; The Stage reported the play had broken every box office record
at the Library Theatre. The plays are also fondly recalled at the theatre for the
extraordinary occasion when a member of the audience laughed so hard she
spat her false teeth out, which her husband came to recover the next day!
The success
of the plays meant a transfer to London was inevitable, although Alan was of
the opinion that it was not viable to take a trilogy to London and had been
forewarned by his agent Margaret Ramsay (better known as Peggy) and various
producers that a trilogy was box office death and it was unlikely anyone
would realistically want to pick it up. Unconcerned, Alan put the trilogy in
a drawer and began work on his next play
Absent
Friends,
while several producers tussled with the challenge of presenting the plays
in London with the favoured response being to only take one play in -
although which play was not easily settled on. It was a fruitless argument
however as even had this issue been settled, Alan was adamant the plays had
to be produced as a trilogy or not at all and, more significantly, the
producer Michael Codron had already bought the West End rights in 1973 -
although for reasons to be explained, this was not common knowledge at the
time.
A
West End
production was problematic at best: the idea of a trilogy in London was a
risky one and a means of gauging the popularity of such a project was
needed. The solution came from Eric Thompson, director of the highly
successful West End production of
Absurd
Person Singular, who had read the plays after asking Alan for something to read whilst in hospital. Alan gave him The Norman Conquests,
which Eric was very enthusiastic about and suggested the trilogy be
mounted at a fringe venue which offered less financial risk. His
reasoning being that if the plays were demonstrated to be both viable
and successful, they could easily have a West End transfer. Greenwich
Theatre agreed to stage them and Eric’s choice of an exceptionally
strong cast of relative unknowns (including Michael Gambon, Felicity
Kendal and Penelope Keith) working alongside the more established Tom
Courtenay arguably helped to guarantee the plays’ future and success in
London. Not that Eric was totally convinced he had a hit on his hands
as Alan Ayckbourn recalls of a conversation on the first premiere of
the plays: "Eric said, 'Do you realise we could be the first people in
history with three flops in a row, because if they don't like one, they
sure as hell aren't going to like the others!"' Fortunately for all
concerned, the opposite occurred. Unusually, Alan was a participant in
the production at Greenwich and actively involved in rehearsals; Eric
would direct the brunt of the play, but when it came to the set-pieces
such as the dinner party in Table Manners, he would invite Alan to step in, who would block the scene and direct the basics before Eric took over again.
As for the
plays themselves, there was little alteration to the texts between
Scarborough and London, but there were several other notable changes. The
trilogy now became known as
The
Norman Conquests as a
means of emphasising to the audience they should see all three plays -
although in no particular order. Two of the original titles were also
altered:
Fancy
Meeting You became
Table Manners;
Make
Yourself At Home
became
Living
Together, leaving
only
Round
And Round The Garden
unaltered.
The Norman Conquests
played at Greenwich from May to June, 1974, and was an incredible and
immediate success. Such was the overwhelming response to the trilogy that it
was reported at the time there was a rush from West End producers to take on
the plays with one article citing the producer Michael Codron had to
apparently pay a vastly inflated price to secure the rights as a result of
this. This was journalistic invention, though, as Codron had been a silent
partner throughout the Greenwich experience. When the trilogy was first
produced in Greenwich, Codron had confidence it would transfer to the West
End and was consulted on every decision as though he were the named producer
of the play. The only people not explicitly aware of Codron’s substantial
involvement were the management of Greenwich Theatre; it was felt if they
realised he was producing the trilogy - implying the transfer to the West
End was practically a given - there would be scope for the theatre to make
more financial demands. As a result, Codron's role in the Greenwich success was
played down and he only stepped into the limelight when the transfer was
officially confirmed, giving the impression he had only just become involved
with it.
Codron took
the trilogy into the West End with virtually the same cast – Bridget Turner
taking over from the unavailable Penelope Wilton - and it opened at the
Globe Theatre on 1 August, 1974. The response to the transfer was just as
enthusiastic as it had been at Greenwich and
The
Norman Conquests
would win the Evening Standard and the Plays And Players Awards for Best New
Play, as well as winning Felicity Kendal the Variety Club’s Most Promising
Newcomer Award. The plays would run until 13 March, 1976. The long-running
success included a transfer from the Globe Theatre to the Apollo Theatre in
December 1975 and when the play was recast in 1975, it included Julia
McKenzie in her first Ayckbourn role. Alan would later cite her performance
as one of the reasons why he felt she was capable of taking on the demands
of the role of Susan in the 1986 West End production of
Woman In
Mind.
An American
production was practically a given, such was the success of the trilogy in
London and the response Alan’s previous play
Absurd
Person Singular had
already received on Broadway. The rights to the plays were bought by Philip Langer
who initially suggested the London cast transfer to Broadway, but this
foundered when Tom Courtenay was not prepared to commit for more than a 12
week season, which financially was not attractive to the American
producers. The search for a suitable American cast did see one of the more
unusual suggestions for an Ayckbourn play when the acclaimed actor Dustin
Hoffman showed interest in the plays. He visited London to see the trilogy
and in an interview said he was actively considering the plays.
Unfortunately this did not come to pass and the thought of Dustin Hoffman as
Norman can only be left to the imagination. Eric Thompson, who had directed
the American production of
Absurd
Person Singular to
great acclaim, returned to direct the American production which began life
with a short run in Los Angeles before transferring to New York. The trilogy
was well received but did not achieve the same level of success
as
Absurd Person Singular.
It ran at the Morosco Theatre from 5 December 1975 to 19 June 1976, winning
the 1976 Drama Desk award for Unique Theatrical Experience. With the trilogy
running in concert with
Absurd
Person Singular,
Alan’s achievement at having the most plays running simultaneously on
Broadway was marked when 45th Street was renamed Ayckbourn Alley for the day
in March 1976. This achievement was mirrored in London when
Absent
Friends opened in
1975 and Alan had five plays running simultaneously in the West End (Absurd
Person Singular,
The Norman Conquests
and
Absent
Friends). The
American production would be the final collaboration between Alan and Eric
Thompson (begun when Eric directed the London premiere of
Time And
Time Again
in 1972).
Back in
England, the trilogy was set to become the first of Alan’s plays to enjoy
multi-media success. Prior to 1974, his plays had been published by Samuel
French as play texts aimed predominantly at the amateur performance market.
No-one had shown interest publishing them for a wider audience despite prior
attempts to interest a major publisher in the plays. This all changed with
The
Norman Conquests
when several
publishers - including Faber & Faber and Methuen - made proposals to print
the trilogy. The contract was awarded to Chatto & Windus, who published the
trilogy in hardback in 1975. This news was even reported in the Daily
Telegraph. Penguin would later buy the paperback rights from Chatto & Windus
becoming the first mass market paperback publication of Alan’s plays.
The success
of the plays also attracted interest from film and television companies, all
keen to tackle the trilogy in some form or to spin it off in other
directions. The BBC initially suggested making both an adaptation of the
plays and a spin-off television series and other producers followed suit;
although practically every suggestion was for a spin-off from the plays in
the form of a one-off special or a half-hour television series. Alan himself
was “mystified” as to why any of the characters should merit a spin-off, but
was prepared to let Peggy handle the process and see what sort of offers
came to the table. Concurrent to this, several film companies were
suggesting making a movie of the trilogy, although the idea of just one film
encompassing all three plays did not appeal to Alan. Strangely, there was
very little suggestion of filming the trilogy as a trilogy and the first
notable suggestion along these lines did not come until 1975 when the
producer David Susskind offered to adapt the plays for television with the
original West End cast and Alan’s original scripts. Over the course of 1976, this
project was hammered out with Verity Lambert, arguably one of the UK’s most
famous and successful television producers, co-producing with Susskind for
Thames Television. Throughout the negotiations, Alan and Peggy fought hard
for the plays to be presented at their original lengths rather than cut down
to fit a specific slot for television; a point which Alan has always felt
strongly about when considering the television, film and radio adaptations
of his work. Thames Television announced on 11 January, 1977, it was
producing a trilogy of two-hour films based on the plays starring Tom Conti
as Norman. This was the first time any TV channel in the UK had devoted six
hours of prime-time television to a living playwright and the company’s
faith in the films seemed well-placed with strong ratings for the
broadcasts. The three films, directed by Herbert Wise, were shown on
consecutive Wednesdays from 8pm and just a week after the first one had been
broadcast, Thames announced the films had been sold to PBS in the USA for a
“six figure sum.” Despite their success, Alan was not entirely happy with
the adaptations, although much of the blame for this was put on a strike
which had taken place in the middle of filming and effected the quality of
the production. The three films were released on video in 1981, notably on
the same day that
Star
Wars
was also released on video in the UK for the first time. This
is also one of the few Ayckbourn television adaptations that has enjoyed a commercial life having been available on video in
America for many years since its broadcast and, more recently, having been
released on DVD in the UK between 2004 and 2008. In 2011, the trilogy was
also made available on DVD for the first time in North America.
Following the
conclusion of its successful London run, there was immense interest in the
future of the trilogy with one of the first suggestions being a national
tour originating with the Cambridge Theatre Company. Alan, however, was keen
that the plays be released to repertory theatres as soon as possible where
he saw a more natural home for them. No-one could actually see how a tour of
The
Norman Conquests
would work anyway – significantly Michael Codron had already dismissed
the idea unless each theatre on the tour committed to at least three
week visits. With considerable demand from repertory theatres across
the country, the trilogy was released for production in 1976 and the
first regional production was staged by the recently opened Theatre
Clywd, Mold, on 9 August 1976. Other productions quickly followed
throughout the UK, cementing the trilogy as a popular draw and Alan’s
burgeoning reputation as a playwright. In 1977,
The
Norman Conquests was
apparently the most performed work in the country followed by
Macbeth
and Alan’s previous hit
Absurd
Person Singular.
It was estimated that in 1977, 950,000 people saw the trilogy on stage in the
UK alone. Amateur rights were released in 1978 and it remains one of the
most produced of Alan Ayckbourn’s works.
Although the
television adaptation of the trilogy had been a huge hit, a more satisfying
adaptation was created by the BBC for radio in 1990. Directed and adapted by
Gordon House, the three part adaptation featured a strong cast, many of whom
had previously worked extensively with Alan Ayckbourn. Robin Herford, Diane
Bull, Jon Strickland and Tessa Peake-Jones featured in what was a very
popular adaptation of the trilogy which was released commercially in 1993 on
cassette and is frequently repeated on BBC Radio to this day. In 2010, the
BBC released it on CD and as a digital download for the first time as part of the launch of its
Classic Radio Theatre series.
The
significance of
The
Norman Conquests
and its place
in 20th century British theatre was highlighted in 1999 as part of the
National Theatre’s NT2000 celebration. This named the trilogy as one of the
100 Plays Of The Century, where it represented 1973. A platform featuring
the original Norman, Christopher Godwin, and Mark Kingston (Reg in the first
London production) marked the event in June 1999.
Plans to
revive
The
Norman Conquests in
London had long been rumoured with the National Theatre at one point
apparently considering a revival to mark the 20th anniversary of the
trilogy. Although nothing came of this, in 2006 Kevin Spacey - Artistic
Director of the Old Vic - made a surprise announcement that
The
Norman Conquests
would be
revived in London for the first time since 1974 with the acclaimed,
award-winning Matthew Warchus directing.
The
production was confirmed in May 2008 with the unexpected news that the
interior of the Old Vic would be adapted so
The
Norman Conquests
could be
performed in the round as originally produced and written by Alan
Ayckbourn, marking the first time a major London production of an Ayckbourn
play was performed in the round. The trilogy opened in September for a three
month run featuring Stephen Mangan, Jessica Hynes, Paul Ritter, Amanda Root,
Amelia Bullmore and Ben Miles. Despite the popularity of the plays, it was
acknowledged that staging a trilogy in the West End - particularly given the
country was in the early stages of recession - was nothing but a
considerable risk. The result defied everyone’s expectations. The reviews
were uniformly ecstatic with all aspects of the production receiving praise
including the risky decision to convert the Old Vic auditorium into the
round. The critical notices and word of mouth meant the Old Vic soon had a
huge success on its hands.
Almost
immediately after the run ended, there were rumours
The
Norman Conquests
would transfer to New York; although extended negotiations to transfer the
original cast and to keep it in the round meant the trilogy did not reach
New York until April 2009 for a limited run. The producer Sonia Friedman was
responsible for the transfer to the Circle In The Square, where the trilogy
was again performed in the round. Critical notices were again excellent but
the trilogy proved a harder sell in America and despite doing strong
business it would not recoup the initial investment (although there were
negotiations to extend the run as audiences continued to build throughout
the trilogy’s time on Broadway). Where
The
Norman Conquests
did succeed,
above and beyond any expectation, was in recognition of the production and
the company. It received a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics’
Circle and awards for Best Revivals from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama
Desk. The cast, both singularly and as a company also received a number of
awards. The crowning moment came on 7 June when the trilogy received a
prestigious Tony award for Best Revival. This was the first time an
Ayckbourn play had won a Tony and it seems apt that his writing should be
recognised on Broadway with a Tony for his most famous work in the 50th
anniversary year of his playwriting career.
Alan Ayckbourn never truly believed when he wrote The Norman Conquests that
it would have a long shelf-life as, at the time, he couldn't see either
professional or amateur companies producing a trilogy of plays with all
the demands this entailed. Time has proved him very wrong and The Norman Conquests
continues to be popular and regularly staged by both professional and
amateurs around the world and has become one of the most popular and
well-loved of all Alan Ayckbourn's plays.
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd 2012 |