Conquests

That, however, is where things start to get really interesting, for Mr. Ayckbourn specializes in sad comedies whose laughter is tinged with regret, and "Life of Riley," like "The Norman Conquests" before it, is not a standard-issue farce but a darkly shadowed portrait of three middle-class marriages that have been steeped in the sour brine of chronic disappointment.

The Portrait of an Invisible Man Terry Teachout 2011

Director Matthew Warchus, who favors chamber pieces (he was last on Broadway with God of Carnage, Boeing-Boeing and Norman Conquests), gets sharp, calibrated performances from all his actors, including the supporting players.

Fern Siegel: Stage Door: La Bete, A Life in the Theater, Lady Rizo Fern Siegel 2010

In addition to being the most prolific playwright of modern times, Mr. Ayckbourn is also a master of ingenuity, as New York audiences discovered two years ago when London's Old Vic brought its revival of "The Norman Conquests" to Broadway.

Ayckbourn, Indoors and Out Terry Teachout 2011

The London-born Ms. Friedman, who has won Tonys in each of the past three years — for "La Cage Aux Folles," "The Norman Conquests" and "Boeing-Boeing" — said production costs on Broadway are "nearly out of control" compared with those on London's West End.

Stoppard Play 'Arcadia' Next Up in a String of British Exports Christopher John Farley 2011

But "The Norman Conquests," three interlocking plays set in different parts of the same country house on a single weekend, is far more than just a piece of consummate cleverness.

Ayckbourn, Indoors and Out Terry Teachout 2011

Listen to new song "Concerning Past & Future Conquests" below.

New albums from Title Tracks, Vandaveer, Deleted Scenes 2011

Director Matthew Warchus, who favors chamber pieces (he was last on Broadway with God of Carnage, Boeing-Boeing and Norman Conquests), gets sharp, calibrated performances from all his actors, including the supporting players.

Fern Siegel: Stage Door: La Bete, A Life in the Theater, Lady Rizo Fern Siegel 2010

Director Matthew Warchus, who favors chamber pieces (he was last on Broadway with God of Carnage, Boeing-Boeing and Norman Conquests), gets sharp, calibrated performances from all his actors, including the supporting players.

Fern Siegel: Stage Door: La Bete, A Life in the Theater, Lady Rizo Fern Siegel 2010

Director Matthew Warchus, who favors chamber pieces (he was last on Broadway with God of Carnage, Boeing-Boeing and Norman Conquests), gets sharp, calibrated performances from all his actors, including the supporting players.

Fern Siegel: Stage Door: La Bete, A Life in the Theater, Lady Rizo Fern Siegel 2010

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatán, 1517-1570 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2003).

Campeche: on the edge of the Maya world 2009