Whidbey Island Center for the Arts Stages THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, Now thru 6/22

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts takes on a monumental project: Staging Alan Ayckbourn's comic trilogy The Norman Conquests. Three plays-Table Manners, Living Together, Round and Round the Garden-each set in a different room of an English country house, and each telling a variation on the same story. The Norman Conquests, is directed by Andrew Grenier, opens tonight, June 7 and runs through June 22, 2013; show times are 7:30 P.M. on Fridays and Saturdays with 2 P.M. Sunday matinees. Trilogy Saturday, June 22, all three plays will be presented on the stage in repertoire.

The mind-bending 1973 work, a hit in its 2009 Broadway revival, takes its name not from musty British history but from its two-timing (maybe three-timing) central character, Norman. WICA is staging all three works, in weekend repertory and once in an all-day "Trilogy Saturday" marathon.

Producing and directing three plays in repertoire is quite a challenge for the cast and crew: six actors, three sets, three plays, and eight days. Norman director, Grenier, states, "It's both wildly ambitious and a totally diabolical plot to drive actors, directors, stage managers, designers, etc., completely mad, but it's also a great, fun challenge. There's no other theater in this area that has taken on this challenge," says Grenier, "the courage of the cast and crew to embrace this trilogy is tremendous."

The top-drawer cast was assembled by Andrew Grenier, who also helmed last season's expertly orchestrated Doubt and God of Carnage. The cast features David Mayer as Norman, Phil Jordan as Reg, Gail Liston as Sarah, Michael Morgen as Tom, Laura Persaud as Annie, and Julia Tewksbury as Ruth.

This clever British playwright gives us a look at the same events from the viewpoint of different locations rather than different people. Ayckbourn's characters move between the garden, the living room and the dining room, and we see in each play only what occurs in those venues. When someone moves from the living room to the dining room, he's moving to another play. Seeing one play is enough to understand the script. Seeing all of them deepens your sense of the characters and understanding of their connections, and provides three times the laughs.

Norman, a librarian stuck in his own personal erotica section, romances three separate women at an English country house one frantic July weekend. Annie owns the house and lives there as caretaker to her aging mother. Sarah is visiting with her husband Reg. Annie, Reg, and Ruth are siblings, and Ruth also happens to be married to Norman. Toss in Tom, Annie's goodhearted veterinarian neighbor who doesn't know he's supposed to be in love with Annie, and you have a deliciously tangled setup for a raucous romp.

"The plays can be seen in any order. That being said, we are doing them in the order that Ayckbourn presented them: Table Manners, Living Together, and Round and Round the Garden," says Grenier, "on the closing Saturday (Trilogy Saturday), June 22 we'll perform all three in one day. A roller-coaster ride for actor and audience alike. Promises to be a hoot."

Any of the three plays gives you a generous glimpse into a gleefully torrid little world. Three plays, six characters...infinite possibilities. On Trilogy Saturday, June 22, you can see the trilogy straight through: Manners at 11:00, Living at 3:00, and Garden at 7:30. Each play sheds light on one of Norman's conquests: Garden shows Norman's genuine affection for Annie-dismissed, scoffed at, and trampled on by Sarah in Table Manners. The depth of Ruth and Norman's connection is displayed-on the floor, on a brown faux-fur rug-in Living Together. Manners bind Norman and Sarah together-figuratively and literally (it's breakfast, there's jam, you get the picture...). As a result, which play you see first will greatly affect your opinion of all the characters-but especially Norman, and how much sympathy you have for this very flawed character. The perfection of Conquests' construction isn't evident until you view all three- each a slice of a single weekend-in-the-country life cut from three spots (a dining room, lounge, and garden). It's masterful-an impenetrable dramaturgical fortress. Not a crack to be found.

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