The Norman Conquests is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of its original West End production in 1974.
On Tuesday, the blog reproduced an article by Alan Ayckbourn about 40 things you probably didn't know about The Norman Conquests. That article ended with the West End production in 1974.
Alan's archivist Simon Murgatroyd continues the story with 40 more - slightly less obscure - things bringing the trilogy up to date.
1) The West End production of The Norman Conquests would go on to win the Evening Standard and Plays & Players Best Play (surely plays!) Awards.
2) Alan would also receive the Variety Club Of Great Britain Playwright Of The Year award on the back of The Norman Conquests in 1974.
3) Seventeen months after it opened at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in London, the trilogy transferred to the Apollo Theatre.
4) The transfer included a change of cast, notable amongst which was Julia McKenzie. Alan later cited her performance in this and on the television adaptation of Absent Friends as to why he picked her for her award-winning role of Susan in Woman In Mind.
5) When Absent Friends opened at the Garrick Theatre in July 1975, Alan Ayckbourn had five plays running in the West End alongside Absurd Person Singular and The Norman Conquests. This was a record for any playwright in the West End.
6) The Norman Conquests ran for 20 months in the West End, closing on 13 March 1976.
7) The director of the London production, Eric Thompson - father of the actress Emma Thompson - also directed the Broadway production of the play, which opened on 7 December 1975 at the Morosco Theatre...
8) Having had it's initial try-out on the other side of the country at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, between 10 October and 29 November 1975.
9) Dustin Hoffman was actively considered for the role of Norman on Broadway and the actor even came to London to see the trilogy.
10) With the opening of The Norman Conquests on Broadway alongside Absurd Person Singular, Alan had a record-breaking four plays running simultaneously on the Great White Way.
11) To mark his Broadway achievement, 45th Street was renamed Ayckbourn Alley for the day in March 1976.
12) It was also the first Ayckbourn production in New York to win an award with the Drama Desk Award For Unique Theatrical Experience.
12) Back in England, the trilogy's first post-London performance was at the Theatr Clywd, Mold, opening on 9 August 1976.
13) Since then it has become practically a staple of professional and amateur theatre in the UK and in 2013, the publishers Samuel French revealed it was the second most produced Ayckbourn work (counting productions of all of the plays in the trilogy) behind Ernie's Incredible Illucinations.
14) The Norman Conquests was the first of Alan Ayckbourn's plays to be published in a mass market edition (as opposed to a acting edition) when Chatto & Windus published the trilogy.
15) Since then, The Norman Conquests has never been out of print and has been published around the world.
16) The success of the West End production led television & film companies to express interest in adapting the plays. The first major show of interest was by the BBC which wanted to both adapt the plays and produce a spin-off series centred on the characters....
17) The spin-off series idea was mooted by several companies, although Alan was 'mystified' as to why any of the characters deserved a spin-off series!
18) It's frequently reported the West End production of The Norman Conquests poached the actors Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith from the popular TV series The Good Life - it was actually the other way round and the TV series took the actors after their West End run was finished alongside another Ayckbourn stalwart, Richard Briers.
19) The creators of The Good Life, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, have noted that both the TV series The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles were influenced by Alan Ayckbourn's plays.
20) Several major film companies expressed an interest in making a movie of the trilogy - although none of them ever offered to make a trilogy of films about the trilogy!
21) Eventually, the rights to produce the trilogy for television were obtained by the producers David Susskind and Verity Lambert for Thames Television.
22) The director of the television production was Herbert Wise, who had also directed the very first Ayckbourn television adaptation with the now long-lost 1969 broadcast of Relatively Speaking.
23) Alan and his agent fought long and hard for the plays to be kept to their original running length rather than be cut for television; they largely succeeded and set the template for many future arguments over running time on both television and radio.
24) Unfortunately, filming of the trilogy was interrupted by a technician's strike and the director Herbert Wise always believed this affected the quality of the piece.
25) The trilogy was premiered on British television on 5 October 1977. Broadcast over three weeks, it marked the first time six hours of prime-time British television had ever been given over to a living playwright.
26) The television adaptation was sold around the world and found much success, particularly in America where it was shown on PBS and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding writing.
27) With the advent of the home video market, Table Manners was released on VHS in the UK in 1981 on the same day that the movie Star Wars was released...
28) Unfortunately the company did not have the rights to release it on VHS and the videos were withdrawn. It would be another 25 years before The Norman Conquests was made commercially available in the UK.
29) The BBC did eventually adapt the trilogy but for the radio in 1990 with a cast which included a number of actors who regularly worked with Alan's company in Scarborough.
30) It is now truly a multi-media play and the only Ayckbourn work which has been released on video, DVD, download / streaming (TV), audio cassette, CD and download / streaming (audio)!
31) In 1999, the National Theatre named The Norman Conquests as one of the 100 most significant plays of the 20th century.
32) 30 years after it closed in London, Kevin Spacey announced in 2006 the trilogy would be revived in London at the Old Vic....
33) It took another two years to revive it though with Matthew Warchus directing an acclaimed production.
34) The Old Vic was converted into an in-the-round space to present the plays as originally intended. This marked the first time, an Ayckbourn play had been in-the-round in the West End.
35) The Old Vic's revival transferred to Broadway in 2009 to the Circle In The Square theatre, again the first time an Ayckbourn play had been presented in-the-round on Broadway.
36) Considerably more successful than its original New York production, the trilogy won a plethora of awards including the Tony for Best Revival Of A Play.
37) Despite its many revivals and popularity, Alan Ayckbourn has only directed The Norman Conquests twice. First for its original production at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, in 1973 and second, for a revival at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1993.
38) When asked which of characters in The Norman Conquests he most resembled, Alan Ayckbourn noted: "I once said I thought I was essentially Reg inside, but probably came across to people as Tom, but would dearly love to have been Norman! They're all me, though. To paraphrase the Bard if you cut them, I will bleed."
39) When asked what inspired the character of Norman, the playwright once said: "It amused me to conceive a character who felt it his God-given duty to please every woman he met. He sees himself as a New Man. In fact he is just an Old Man in New Man's clothing. Well, sort of. The joke is that he goes to inordinate lengths to seduce women who, for various reasons, don't really need that much persuading."
40) And as to the age-old question of why Norman chooses East Grinstead as the destination for his romantic escape, it's actually an old joke as Alan's wife, Heather Stoney, explains: "The actual story of why Alan came up with East Grinstead is that there is a lovely country house hotel just outside said town called Gravetye Manor. We had stayed there and Alan thought it would be lovely if Norman had booked he and Annie into there. The chances of Norman actually doing that are pretty slim but Alan liked the thought as an in-joke. The hotel's address is East Grinstead."
Copyright: Simon Murgatroyd. Please do not reproduce this article without the permission of the copyright holder.
