Review: How the Other half Loves, Old Vic ★★★★

A spritely, well-choreographed suburban COMEDY

How the Other Half Loves, currently playing at the Old Vic, is a period piece. It is a period piece not because the humour has gone stale or the plot no longer holds, but because some elements of the script (the use of landline phones and the attitudes about who does housework) only work in the late 1960s. What remains fresh are the farcical misunderstandings and comic events which don’t just make us laugh but also sound like they come from real people with real lives and real pain. We cringe and care at the same time as we chuckle. Those of us old enough in the audience might also reminisce on the times when we too made phone calls not knowing who might pick up at the other end. Probably every one of us had at least one embarrassment or unwanted conversation as a result.

Alan Ayckbourn‘s play may be set in suburban domesticity, but it also provides a sharp outlook on class and relationships. In How the Other Half Loves, much of the confusion and chaos comes as the three central couples navigate their standing with each other. The wonderfully affable Frank Foster (Roger Allam) as the department boss is spun a yarn by his wife Fiona Foster (Dorothy Atkinson) and his employee Bob Phillips (Rowan Polonski). They are having an affair but incriminate a third couple, the Featherstones, as an alibi. William Featherstone also works for Foster. Foster’s senior role in this pecking order provides much explanation for why the others respond to his bewildered meddling and misguided sleuthing.

In-the-round staging and a composite set show us both the Phillips’s and Foster’s houses and different time lines concurrently. This conceit is taken to its most extreme just before the interval where two dinner parties take place at the same time. The set, choreography and timing from the whole cast that enables Adam Gillen as William Featherstone and Laura Elsworthy as his wife Mary to repeatedly switch instantly between the meal on Friday with the Phillips and the meal on Thursday with the Fosters are thrilling. As it builds to a crescendo, it is exhausting to watch as an audience and a true feat of acting endurance. Anyone who has enjoyed Noises Off or The Play that Goes Wrong should ensure they see this example of hilarious and well-timed creative staging.

As well as the funny alibi and confusion plot, Ayckbourn also casts an examining eye on the role of women. Mary Featherstone is a mouse at first and we watch uncomfortably as her husband demeans her. Teresa Phillips (Ayesha Antoine) fires off letters to the Guardian and Fiona Foster too is after acknowledgement. This depth to the characters is part of what makes this play more than just a fast-paced farce.

Watching the bumbling and affectionate Allam in action and marvelling agog at the skill of the dinner scene would be enough to make this show worthwhile. The depth of the characters and genuine feeling ensure that the whole play holds one’s attention.

Images: Manuel Harlan

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