A FAMILY gathering provides the material for Alan Ayckbourne's play Living Together, to be presented at Conquest Theatre, Bromyard, next week.

It is part of a trilogy known as The Norman Conquests, set in different parts of a shabby Victorian vicarage during the same weekend.

The family party consists of Annie, played by Jan Williams, her sister Ruth (Meg Holborough) and their brother Reg (Allen Flaxman), together with Annie's boyfriend Tom (Bob Dallow), Ruth's husband Norman (Paul Dawson) and Reg's wife Sarah (Frances Benson).

Living Together, to be staged at the Conquest on November 16, 18, 23 and 25, is set in the living room, while the other two plays take place in the dining room and the garden.

Frances Benson mastered the whole of Willie Russell's two-and-a-half-hour monologue, Shirley Valentine, a few years ago.

"This is the first Ayckbourne I have done and it is funny but very difficult to learn," she said.

"It's all about the different characters and how they interact with each other and especially with Norman."

The play is directed by Nikki Davies, who is already well known as an actor at the Conquest Theatre.

Tickets are £6 (concessions £5), with two for the price of one on the first night. Box office: 01885 488575.