The Norman Conquests Part Three: Round and Round the Garden (Audio Theatre Series) [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Alan Ayckbourn (Author), L.A. Theatre Works (Author), Rosalind Ayers (Author), Martin Jarvis (Performer), Christopher Neame (Performer), Ken Danziger (Performer), Jane Leeves (Performer), Carolyn Seymour (Performer)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999

Part of the delightful comic trilogy from one of England's most popular playwrights, The Norman Conquests revolves around a lascivious librarian with designs on three different women, all family members. This third and last installment finds everyone circling around in the garden in pursuit of love, sex, and a cranky cat. The frustrated but irrepressible Norman is still valiantly pursuing three different women, leaving the audience to wonder whether he will be able to keep them apart long enough to seduce them all.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The play is the thing this year. There have been a number of well-made, full-cast productions to hit the market in 1999, and some of the best are by L.A. Theatre Works. The company recently acquired the right to release British playwright Alan Ayckbourn's bitingly humorous trilogy "The Norman Conquests." Each play, TABLE MANNERS, LIVING TOGETHER and ROUND AND ROUND THE GARDEN is performed with wit and enthusiasm by a lively cast of British actors. -- Los Angeles Times

From AudioFile

A superb cast vigorously essays the third in Alan Ayckbourn's intricately plotted NORMAN CONQUESTS (1974), a comic trilogy of stage plays about a suburban British Lothario. Each one depicts roughly the same events, but from different points of view. This cast has also recorded the first two installments. This is the best of the three and, because of subject matter more suited to tragedy than to humor, the most difficult to pull off. Flawlessly directed, the production suffers slightly from the necessity of combining aspects of studio-based and live-audience production. It just doesn't work. The uncredited engineer, however, has done a fine job of thrusting the performers dynamically into the foreground and capturing all their sparkle. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works; Unabridged edition (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580811582
• ISBN-13: 978-1580811583
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,660,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The scripts for all three fantastic plays., January 1, 2001

By 

MLPlayfair (Ravenna, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Norman Conquests: Table Manners; Living Together; Round and Round in the Garden (An Evergreen book) (Paperback)

In the late 1970s PBS presented a hilarious trilogy of plays called "The Norman Conquests." I've been trying ever since to find them again. And here they are! This volume contains the scripts for all three of these amazing plays. Their premise: Norman is a real charmer who seduces (not necessarily sexually) everybody he meets. Each of the three plays takes place on a different stage. It's the same story and the same six characters, but seen from what happens only in each room in each play. It's an amazing accomplishment for a writer. This book carries an introduction by Ayckbourn that explains how he did it. And he says the plays are meant to be seen in any order. But I prefer the order given here: "Table Manners" (in the dining room), "Living Together" (the sitting room) and "Round and Round the Garden." If you haven't experienced it, the videos are available now (finally!), as well. The production (the same I saw on PBS) stars Tom Conti as an unforgettable Norman.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acute social observation. Highly comical., April 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Norman Conquests: Table Manners; Living Together; Round and Round in the Garden (An Evergreen book) (Paperback)

Terrific work (again!) from this major British playwright showing a disasterous family weekend where a would be Casanova sets his sights on his sister in law and the whole family ultimately become involved. Although written and set in the mid 1970s it remains just as funny (if not more so) now. All of the characters are classics and there are a feast of one liners. It really needs a stage production to be done justice though.

5.0 out of 5 stars Laughing out loud, August 19, 2011

By 

Mack10zie - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Norman Conquests: Table Manners; Living Together; Round and Round in the Garden (An Evergreen book) (Paperback)

Wonderfully written. Classic British humor. Ayckbourn's character development is "spot on!" I was literally laughing out loud on the subway reading this trilogy of plays. Highly recommend.