American Conservatory's latest proves your average English garden can play host to a maelstrom of romantic peccadilloes, from lovers lurking in the ivy to oblivious would-be lovers shamelessly using not-so-ailing family cats as an excuse to appear each and every day. Round and Round the Garden is Alan Ayckbourn's comic ode to family entanglements, where "family entanglements" equal "Norman the librarian trying to seduce his two sisters-in-law." While he also attempts to cajole his estranged wife back into marital harmony. Predictably, things go south.

Directed by Tony Award-winner John Rando, Round and Round the Garden is a voyeuristic gaze into a not-so-idyllic country weekend. The price of a ticket means you don't have to crouch in the bushes with unsavory insects or wrestle with misbehaving lawn chairs while fending off clumsy advances.

Through May 23. American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary Street. Tickets $10-82 at (415) 749-2228 or www.act-sf.org.