Details
The Ovation Collection continues its aim to bring classic performances from the stage to the screen with a hugely entertaining adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's revolutionary comic trilogy, The Norman Conquests, available as either a triple DVD box set as from 19th April 2004.
The winner of Best Play at the Evening Standard Awards and brimming with memorable one-liners, this unforgettable portrayal of a disastrous family weekend is a riotous send up of Britain's cosseted values. Directed by Herbert Wise (Inspector Morse), the stellar casts comprises some of the most famous comedy names ever to grace the silver screen, including Penelope Keith (The Good Life, To the Manor Born), Richard Briers (The Good Life, The Monarch of the Glen), Tom Conti (The Glittering Prizes) and Penelope Wilton (The Borrowers, Bob & Rose).
Three interconnecting plays recount the events of a single weekend. Table Manners is set in the dining room; Living Together in the living room and Round and Round the Garden, naturally, outside.
Annie (Penelope Wilton) lives with her invalid mother in the old family home. Her brother Reg (Richard Briers) and his anally retentive wife Sarah (Penelope Keith) arrive to take care of mother while Annie gets away for a holiday. But then Sarah discovers that Annie has planned a dirty weekend with assistant librarian and self-confessed "three-woman-a-day man" Norman (Tom Conti), who just happens to be the husband of Ruth (Fiona Walker), Reg and Annie's successful sister.
Sarah and Reg vow to keep Annie from sneaking off with Norman. Meanwhile, Ruth arrives unexpectedly and Norman - his hopes dashed - seeks comfort in a large bottle of wine, finally passing out drunk on the carpet. But when he sobers up, he sets about trying not only win back the affections of Annie, but of Sarah and Ruth as well.
Alan Ayckbourn is one of the UK's leading dramatists and comedic writers and the recipient of seven Evening Standard Awards and two Tony Awards. He is the author of over 60 plays, 30 of which have been produced for the West End and Royal National Theatre, including The Revengers' Comedies, Relatively Speaking, A Chorus of Disapproval and Absent Friends.