The garden. Saturday 5.30pm. A cancelled tryst and a cat up a tree.

ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN makes up one part of Alan Ayckbourn’s comic masterpiece THE NORMAN CONQUESTS trilogy, from the perspective of the bramble-filled garden.

★★★★ The Guardian, ★★★★ The Daily Telegraph, ★★★★½ ArtsHub, ★★★★ Stage Noise.

Overview

Norman doesn’t exactly look like one of the world’s great lovers. There’s no square jaw or twinkle in his eye. Instead he has a beard that wanders aimlessly, a penchant for puffa puffa rice and the libido of an oversexed sheepdog. Over the course of one weekend in the English country, Norman has a simple mission: to disrupt, inspire and make his extended family happy. Whether they like it or not.

He’s arranged to meet Annie, stuck at home and tired of looking after her cantankerous invalid mother, for an illicit weekend away. But there’s a hitch – Annie is the sister of Norman’s to-the-point and career-driven wife Ruth. And now her oblivious brother Reg and his controlling wife Sarah have arrived to help. Add the local vet Tom and the scene is set for one hell of a weekend.

Alan Ayckbourn’s award-winning trilogy THE NORMAN CONQUESTS is a comic masterpiece of three parallel plays, each tracing the unravelling of Norman and his flailing romantic ambitions from a slightly different, and often simultaneous, perspective – TABLE MANNERS from the dining room, LIVING TOGETHER from the sitting room and ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN from the bramble-filled garden.

A rare treat of theatrical ingenuity, the three plays tell and retell the turbulently entertaining story with increasing nuance and humour as offstage conversations and antics from one play appear onstage in another.

See one, or better see them all, in any order, for the complete experience.

LIVING TOGETHER

The sitting room. Saturday 6.30pm. Board games and much too much dandelion wine.

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TABLE MANNERS

The dining room. Saturday 6pm. A biscuit fight, a cold meal and a cold–shoulder.

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Ticket Prices
2024 SINGLE TICKETSPREVIEWSIN SEASON
FULL PRICE$83$88
SENIOR CARD$80$85
PENSIONER$76$81
GROUP 10 - 19$76$81
GROUP 20+$71$76
30 OR UNDER$40$43
FULL-TIME STUDENT$40$43
MEAA/AWG$40$43
SCHOOL GROUPS$25$25
Reviews

★★★★ "Startlingly clever and all the better for seeing in one go… The Norman Conquests is up there with the British classics The Office and Fawlty Towers.” The Guardian

★★★★½ "As for this thrilling production, the performances are a joy to behold....The direction itself was masterful (Mark Kilmurry)...I recommend you get along to these shows for a night of good feeling and fun." ArtsHub

★★★★ "A masterpiece of playwriting... Kilmurry has gathered a fine cast and directs them to plumb the hurt, frustration and pathos beneath the comic surface." The Daily Telegraph

★★★★ "The Norman Conquests is one of Alan Ayckbourn’s greatest achievements... It’s also a great achievement for Mark Kilmurry as director and for the company of actors who effortlessly handle the huge undertaking... straight up comedy gold. Recommended." Stage Noise

"Each play contains a kind of virtuoso comic set-piece, and in Table Manners it's Sarah's seating plan for dinner going so awry as to turn to mud a meal for which she had such high hopes. But then Ayckbourn's gentle satire is about what actually happens while people are busy hoping." The Sydney Morning Herald

"This Mark Kilmurry-directed production is a cut above, with Ayckbourn’s somewhat heightened portraits coming across as fleshy and fully human." Audrey Journal

"This revival, directed by Mark Kilmurry, is bright and bubbly, a compelling jaunt back in time... by an excellent, and tireless, uniformly captivating cast." Suzy Goes See

"Directed by Mark Kilmurry, the plays are beautifully revealed and 'hum' along with all the confidence of a well oiled machine. The dramaturgical skill of the comic and dramatic formula of the writer's cleverness is immaculately understood. Mr Kilmurry has also selected a wonderfully accurate group of actors who have created real, vulnerable people, and who then, instinctively, have let their comic instincts stretch to the needs of the writing for it to reward the audience with six hours of blissful laughter, and an ultimate identification of compassion for these hapless, ordinary people, who, if we dare to contemplate, are much like ourselves and our extended families, extended or close." Kevin Jackson's Theatre Diary

★★★★ "Positively Chekhovian, luxuriating in the tiny domestic deaths that happen daily. In Table Manners, a fraught dinner is undermined when family members refuse to sit in their allocated places, leading to a dance of musical chairs so funny I wept." The Guardian

Cast & Creatives
Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn

Playwright

Alan has spent his life in theatre, rarely if ever tempted by television or film, which perhaps explains why he continues to be so prolific. To date he has written 80 plays and his work has been translated into over 35 languages, is performed on stage and television throughout the world and has won countless awards.

Major successes include: RELATIVELY SPEAKING, HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES, ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR, BEDROOM FARCE, A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL and THE NORMAN CONQUESTS. Recently, there have been revivals of SEASON’S GREETINGS and A SMALL FAMILY BUSINESS at the National Theatre and in the West End productions of ABSENT FRIENDS, A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL, RELATIVELY SPEAKING and HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES.

In 2009, he retired as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph, where almost all his plays have been and continue to be rst staged. In June of 2014 an extremely successful visit of the SJT Ayckbourn Ensemble company to the Brits-off-Broadway Festival at 59E59 Theaters, New York staging his two new 2013 plays ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES and FARCICALS, and a revival of his 1992 play TIME OF MY LIFE attracted uniformly excellent reviews; ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES being included in Time Magazine’s Top Ten Productions of the Year whilst also receiving an enthusiastic salute from the New York Times.

In 2016, he returned to the festival with HERO’S WELCOME and a revival of CONFUSIONS, both productions receiving equally wholehearted plaudits. He received the 2016 Oxford Literary Festival’s Honorary Fellowship and in recent years, he has been inducted into American Theatre’s Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics’ Circle Award for Services to the Arts and became the rst British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards.

He was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre.

Mark Kilmurry

Mark Kilmurry

Director
Liz Arday

Liz Arday

Assistant Director

Liz Arday is the 2018 recipient of the Sandra Bates Director’s Award.

For Ensemble Theatre, Liz was Assistant Director under Shannon Murphy for CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION in 2012 and will assist Mark Kilmurry on THE NORMAN CONQUESTS trilogy in 2018. Liz’s other Assistant Director credits include BEACHED (Griffin Theatre), THE LUNCH HOUR and AS YOU LIKE IT (Siren Theatre), and THE VOICES PROJECT: THE ONE SURE THNG (ATYP). As Director, Liz’s credits include YOURS THE FACE, DEBRIS, THE EISTEDDFOD, A WOMAN ALONE (LZA Theatre), RIDE (Red Scarf Theatre, London), LOVELY UGLY (Griffin Theatre), HEDDA GABLER, THREE SISTER, JESUS, YOUR HEART IS MY PIÑATA, THIS IS BABY DOLL (Factotum). Liz will direct a rehearsed reading of Tracey Trinder’s new work KILLING KATIE: CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK CLUB for Ensemble in August 2018.

Liz is a graduate of the VCA Director’s Course and also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University.

Danielle Carter

Danielle Carter

Cast - Sarah

Danielle returns to the Ensemble having previously appeared in E-BABY, MY ZINC BED, RICHARD THE THIRD, THE GINGERBREAD LADY, MY WONDERFUL DAY, ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR, FACE TO FACE and THE QUARTET FROM RIGOLETTO. A graduate of NIDA, other selected theatre credits include AWAY and HYPOTHALAMANIA (Sydney Theatre Company),
A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM (Theatre Works/Original Shakespeare Company) and STILL (Malthouse Theatre Company).

Selected television appearances include OFFSPRING (Season 7), HOUSE HUSBANDS, MR AND MRS MURDER, PAPER GIANTS – MAGAZINE WARS,  SOMETHING IN THE AIR, UNDERBELLY, MEDIVAC as well as the US series LOST WORLD, BEASTMASTER, TALES OF THE SOUTH SEAS and SALEMS LOT.

Film credits include NOTHING BETTER, THE LEGEND MAKER, REASON TO SMILE, LAST DANCE, KNOWING, EUSTICE SOLVES A PROBLEM, THE BLUE LADY, THE FORTUNE TELLER, A FEW THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER, SWEET AS A PEACH and the soon to be released RIP TIDE.

 

Rachel Gordon

Rachel Gordon

Cast - Ruth

Rachel graduated of the National Institute Dramatic Art (NIDA). Rachel has worked extensively in theatre and was most recently seen in ODD MAN OUT (Ensemble Theatre) and MTC’s production of JASPER JONES. Other theatre credits include: KING LEAR and MACBETH (Bell Shakespeare); DAYLIGHT SAVING (Darlinghurst Theatre Company); BETWEEN TWO WAVES (Griffin Theatre Company); CONCUSSION and DON JUAN (Sydney Theatre Company); BOSTON MARRIAGE, LET THE SUNSHINE and NINETY (Melbourne and Queensland Theatre Companies); MANAGING CARMEN and WIT (Ensemble Theatre); BOEING BOEING (New Theatricals); ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, DEATH DEFYING ACTS, LAST NIGHTS OF BALLYHOO and CRIMES OF THE HEART (Marion St Theatre) OUT THERE (Hair Of The Dog Inc), TAMING OF THE SHREW (EHJ Productions) and BIG HAIR IN AMERICA (Hot House Theatre Company). She was also Assistant Director on The Ensemble Theatre production of SEMINAR in 2013.

Rachel’s film credits are RAZZLE DAZZLE and THUNDERSTRUCK. In television Rachel’s credits include: THE SECRET DAUGHTER, THE COMEDY SHOWROOM: THE LETDOWN, THE MOODY’S, THE GENTLEMEN’S GUIDE TO KNIFE FIGHTING, A MOODY CHRISTMAS, HOME & AWAY, NEIGHBOURS, BLUE HEELERS, THE COOKS, THE COAST, WHITE COLLAR BLUE, FARSCAPE, ALL SAINTS, BACKBERNER, NEVER TELL ME NEVER and BIG SKY.

In 1994 Rachel received a Logie Award nomination for Best Female New Talent for her role on BLUE HEELERS. In 2007 Rachel was personally trained by Al Gore and The Australian Conservation Foundation as a Climate Change Presenter for THE CLIMATE PROJECT.

 

Brian Meegan

Brian Meegan

Cast - Reg

For The Ensemble Theatre Brian has appeared IN TWO, A HISTORY OF FALLING THINGS, ABSENT FRIENDS, NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH, FRANKENSTEIN, THE ACT, MY WONDERFUL DAY, NINETY, ABIGAIL’S PARTY, CHAPTER TWO, ART, THE HEARTBREAK KID, MACBETH, WRONG FOR EACH OTHER, ALARMS AND EXCURSIONS and THE BOYS NEXT DOOR. His other theatre credits include COCK for Red Line Productions, GLEN GARRY GLEN ROSS for the Western Australian Theatre Company and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and THE GRASS WIDOW for The Hole in the Wall Theatre Company. BREAKING THE SILENCE for Marion Street, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING for Shakespeare in the Park, HAMLET, HENRY IV, OTHELLO and ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA for The Sydney Theatre Company and KING LEAR for The Studio Company. Brian also co-wrote his own show, THE BOYS GOTTA BONK which toured to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

For Television he has appeared IN DEVILS DUST, UNDERBELLY “BADNESS”, A MODEL DAUGHTER – THE KILLING OF CAROLINE BYRNE, SEA PATROL, WATER RATS, ALL SAINTS, GRASS ROOTS, STINGERS, BLUE HEELERS, BLUE WATER HIGH and THROUGH MY EYES. Brian played the regular character of Colin Thompson on GOING HOME for SBS. For the ABC he has appeared in MARKING TIME and CURTIN. His voice over credits include PETALS for ABC, OZ THE MAGICAL ADVENTURE – Interactive DVD and DEADLY for Yoram Gross, voice work on the Interactive game BORDERLANDS for 2K Australia P/L. Brian’s film appearances include PRIME MOVER, $9.99, JOYRIDER, THREADED, RISK and THE ILLUSTRATED FAMILY DOCTOR.

Brian graduated from WAAPA in 1984.

Sam O’Sullivan

Sam O’Sullivan

Cast - Tom
Yalin Ozucelik

Yalin Ozucelik

Cast - Norman
Matilda Ridgway

Matilda Ridgway

Cast - Annie

Matilda is an award winning actor, theatre maker and arts educator. For the Ensemble Theatre she has performed in PROOF, SEMINAR, MY WONDERFUL DAY, BROOKLYN BOY and RUBY SUNRISE. Her other theatre credits include THIS THIS IS MINE (Corinthian Food Store), JASPER JONES (Belvoir), HAMLET, HENRY 4 and THE PLAYERSs (Bell Shakespeare), CRUCIBLE, MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, A DOLL’S HOUSE and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Sport for Jove), THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VAN KANT, KAYAK, COCK and SPROUT (Old Fitzroy Theatre), PLATANOV and SWEET NOTHINGS (ATYP).

Her film and television credits include, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW, JACKIE AND HIDING (ABC), 1919 (ABC), the Cannes Palm D’Or nominee THE GUESTS and the independent feature films MARLEY, SOMEONE and 2010.

Matilda trained at the Ensemble Studios, Atlantic Theatre Company NYC, SITI Company NYC and L’Ecole Phillippe Gaulier Paris. Matilda is a proud member of Equity and WITS.

 

Hugh O’Connor

Hugh O’Connor

Set and Costume Designer
Scott Allan

Scott Allan

Lighting Designer

Scott first worked for the Ensemble Theatre in 1997, and has designed the lighting for productions including BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, THE OLDEST PROFESSION, MOTHERS AND SONS, THE BOOKCLUB, OTHER DESERT CITIES, FOUR FLAT WHITES IN ITALY, LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS, BECKY SHAW, AT ANY COST, WISH I’D SAID THAT, and THE GINGERBREAD LADY. Other productions include: THE MAIDS, BENT, DIARY OF A MADMAN, ROOTED (Hunter Valley Theatre Company); DAMN YANKEES, CRAZY FOR YOU (The Production Company); SEX WITH STRANGERS, BAKERSFIELD MIST, THE HAUNTING OF DANIEL GARTRELL (Straightjacket/Tamainian Theatre Co.); SONDHIEM ON SONDHEIM, STARTING HERE STARTING NOW, BLOOD BROTHERS (Manilla Street); DER FREISCHÜTZ, LA TRAVIATA, CARMEN, I PURITANI, THE MERRY WIDOW, TOSCA, FAUST, LA BOHEME, FIDELIO, THE PEARL FISHERS, THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (Melbourne Opera).

Scott has been the Technical Group Manager for the Arts Faculty at Deakin University for twelve years, and was the Resident Lighting Designer to the Arts Centre Gold Coast for the eight years prior.  sallanld.com

Dani Ironside

Dani Ironside

Stage Manager

Dani is a graduate from Charles Sturt University, holding a Bachelor of Arts in Design for Theatre and Television.

Dani’s Stage Management credits with Ensemble Theatre include: LIP SERVICE, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, ODD MAN OUT, e-baby, JACK OF HEARTS, MY ZINC BED, LADIES IN LAVENDER, ABSENT FRIENDS, OTHER DESERT CITIES, CRUISE CONTROL, NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH, SEMINAR, HAPPINESS, MANAGING CARMEN, SKYLIGHT, GINGERBREAD LADY and WARNING: EXPLICIT MATERIAL. Other Stage Management credits include SAMSON for Belvoir, 2015 CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT for Hunan Orchestra of Chinese Music, DMITRY SINKOVSKY RUSSIAN BAROQUE VIOLIN for Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, THE SHOE-HORN SONATA for Riverside Theatre and A SECRET PLACE for Australian Theatre for Young People. Dani is also a Stage Management Mentor & Supervisor at NIDA and Technical Stage Manager at City Recital Hall – Angel Place. For television, Dani has worked on THE VOICE, THE VOICE- KIDS and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.

PHOTO GALLERY

 

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FAQ

What order should I see the plays in?

There is no correct order to see The Norman Conquests trilogy. The trilogy has tended to be staged in the order of TABLE MANNERS, LIVING TOGETHER and ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN but this is not a preferred choice of the playwright and not required to enjoy and understand the show.

What is the chronological order of the plays?

There is no correct ‘chronological order’ of the plays as much of the action happens simultaneously (one play shows what is happening in the dining room at the same time that another play shows what is happening in the living room). ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN starts with the earliest scene but ends with the latest.

Do I have to see them all?

Each play can be seen individually. There is no denying that the experience is richer for seeing all three plays, but it is not necessary and the story of the weekend is perfectly entertaining and clear in each play.