Venue: Ensemble Theatre (Kirribilli NSW), Nov 2, 2018 – Jan 12, 2019
Playwright: Alan Ayckbourn
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Cast: Danielle Carter, Rachel Gordon, Brian Meegan, Sam O’Sullivan, Yalin Ozucelik, Matilda Ridgway
Images by Prudence Upton
Theatre review
Ruth’s husband is having dalliances with her sister and her sister-in-law. These extramarital trysts with Norman are at least momentarily pleasurable, but it comes as no surprise that there is pandemonium when the cat is out of the bag. Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy The Norman Conquests takes place in a weekend, with each instalment encompassing the action at a specific area of the family’s country home. Table Manners occurs in the dining hall, Living Together in the living room, and Round And Round The Garden in the garden. They form a cohesive whole, but each part stands alone, for this intricate 1973 comedy about the meaning of marriage, at a time of sexual liberation as Britain emerges from the swinging sixties.
Its humour is of a classic style, with 45-year-old jokes likely to divide audiences, but at the heart of the piece is Ruth’s surprising permissiveness, still refreshing by today’s standards. Her reluctance to see the affairs as necessarily catastrophic, but more of an annoyance, leads us to a progressive evaluation of monogamy, still relevant to how we conceive of relationships and marriages today. This revival, directed by Mark Kilmurry, is bright and bubbly, a compelling jaunt back in time that is surprisingly resonant, even if its language is obviously outdated.
The characters may sound like the past, but they are made to feel current, by an excellent, and tireless, uniformly captivating cast. Yalin Ozucelik gives Norman an appropriate sex appeal, cleverly depicting that familiar blend of naivety and cunning, to convey the ambiguously deceptive quality of men who love too many. Matilda Ridgway is a marvellously complex Annie, the aforementioned sister, richly imagined with veraciously human conflicts, clearly presented for a personality sensual and intelligent. Ruth is played by Rachel Gordon, wonderfully vivacious and highly sophisticated, for an exemplary portrait of a woman with an open mind, unafraid to set her own rules.
When Ruth declares that she does not own her husband, we are urged to re-examine sexual relationships, and perhaps define them anew. In letting our loved ones go, we in turn disallow ourselves from ever being enslaved. Love, however, can make free people want to be bound. To have and to hold is a divine notion, but life without freedom is abhorrent, just as life without love is unbearable. In every intimate connection, whether fleeting or longstanding, delicate negotiations are required; traditional prescriptive methods, when adopted unquestioned, rarely deliver satisfactory results. Congress between organic beings can never be completely predictable, for every entity is different and in constant flux. We just need to make sure that nobody gets hurt, although it seems always to be easier said than done.
Suzy Goes See 