As Rob Swain bows out of with an Ayckbourn trilogy, he tells Charles Hutchinson about his years at Harrogate Theatre

ARTISTIC director Rob Swain leaves Harrogate Theatre at the end of next month, his last task being to conquer all three peaks of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests.

Rob, who is to return to freelance directing, has decided to mount all three plays in Ayckbourn's trilogy as his Harrogate valedictory.

Opening tonight, this production marks the 30th anniversary of the first of the Scarborough knight's multiple plays. Written in only ten days and described by Ayckbourn as "the pursuit by the awkward of the unattainable", The Norman Conquests present three views of a farcical weekend of attempted infidelity: over the dinner table in Table Manners; in the living room in Living Together; and in the garden in Round And Round The Garden.

Each play is self-contained but on the production's closing day, February 22, all three will be staged: a rare event because the trilogy is seldom performed in one go.

To facilitate staging, Rob has changed from the usual rehearsal practice while Kate Stanton has designed a revolving stage that encompasses dinner table, living room and garden.

"Normally we have three weeks of rehearsal for each production but for this one we've budgeted for four straight weeks, starting rehearsals on the third play in the first week, the second in the second, and the first in the third," says Rob.

"We then finish preparations for the first one, Table Manners, and after that has opened tonight, the second play, Living Together will get its second week of rehearsals during the daytime, and then it will be the same process for Round And Round The Garden. So what we've effectively done is parboil each play by week three of rehearsals.

"I'm sure the actors who have to learn the lines will disagree with me but I think it's just about possible to do all three plays this way."

His choice of The Norman Conquests as his upbeat farewell party piece had "little to do with the fact I was leaving". "I was more conscious that last season, apart from the musical Tears Of A Clown, we did Macbeth and Uncle Vanya and people said 'interesting but rather serious', so for this season, after Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men I was looking for a comedy," says Rob.

"I'd done Living Together from The Norman Conquests at Stoke in 1996, and having done one I thought 'God, wouldn't it be fun to do all three - and I wanted to go out with something that was fun but also comically masochistic! You could do just one of the plays but that would be boring, wouldn't it?"

Alan Ayckbourn was once a staple of the Harrogate Theatre menu - too much so for the liking of the Arts Council - but The Norman Conquests will be Rob's first Ayckbourn since his arrival in August 1998.

"I think it was in my job interview that I said I wouldn't be doing Ayckbourn or John Godber here because coals to Newcastle came to mind but what Ayckbourn is writing and staging now in Scarborough is so different to The Norman Conquests that doing these three plays is legitimate."

The spa town still has an appetite for the comic master, with 65 per cent of seats already sold in advance.

No one should be surprised by that level of bookings, given that the average attendance for repertory productions has doubled from 36 to 72 per cent under Swain's stewardship, while earned income has risen by 22 per cent while working with executive director Sheena Wrigley.

When appointed from 100 applicants, Rob outlined his vision for Harrogate Theatre's future. "There are exciting plans to broaden its range of work and take work in to the community," he said in May 1998. "I'm looking forward to creating a range of activities that will involve more local people in the life of this much-loved theatre."

Reflecting on his tenure, his delivery on that promise gave him considerable pleasure. "Apart from re-introducing new writing to the theatre, the other thing that I've been most pleased about has been the outreach work with HT2 Youth Theatre," Rob says.

Nine new plays have been staged in the main house or studio, alongside classics and touring work, with the Autumn 2001 programme of Swain and Shelly Willetts' rock'n'roll version of Hamlet, Tears Of A Clown, and a stern and raw Macbeth being Rob's favourite combination of new and old.

One play he didn't manage to stage was Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy Of The People. "It would be an interesting play about Harrogate or any town of this size as it's a play about the morality of local politics or the challenge faced by local politicians, because every town has its moral issues," Rob says.

Whereas his predecessor, the turbulent Andrew Manley, left Harrogate Theatre with the provocative flourish of Lulu, the steadier Rob Swain will depart with a generous portion of Ayckbourn humour and the theatre in good order.

The 43-year-old Londoner will "take a month out to think" before settling on his plans. What next, Rob? "Who knows," he says. "I'll go where the flow takes me." Bon voyage.

The Norman Conquests, Harrogate Theatre, until February 22. Box office: 01423 502116.

Updated: 10:02 Friday, January 24, 2003