How the Other Half Loves

Alan Ayckbourn’s play How The Other Half Loves premiered in Scarborough in July 1969, followed by a run in the West End in 1970. We were resoundingly reminded that this was the time that taste forgot when the curtain opened on the very clever box set, representing two homes that partly overlapped. The boss’s home on the left had traditional, tasteful reproduction furniture, while the employee’s home on the right was more contemporary with ghastly seventies wallpaper. Well done to the set design and build team for achieving such a good effect.

The play has a typically convoluted Ayckbourn plot, following the growing misunderstandings and confusion caused by two married people having an affair and trying to cover it up by involving an innocent third party.

Each member of the cast had developed their characters well and maintained them throughout. Georgina Boase as Fiona, the boss’s wife, and Richard Meeson as Bob, the employee with whom she was having an affair, were well matched and both presented their characters with confidence and style. Tony Smith as Bob’s boss, Frank, was nicely bumbling and forgetful (although you wondered how he came to run a company), taking a long time to twig that his wife was being unfaithful; while Jo Walker, as Bob’s wife Teresa, convincingly portrayed a wife who is taken for granted, only just managing to bring up their young child alone, all the while convinced her husband is having an affair.

James Batchelor and Sarah Maker were both excellent as William and Mary, the couple that are unwittingly dragged in to the affair by being used as the lovers’ alibis. Sarah beautifully captured the timidity of her character, terrified of going to her husband’s employer’s for dinner but desperate not to let him down. James also gave us a well-defined character – a pompous know-all, controlling his wife in the guise of looking after her.

Great use was made of the telephones on the central table to generate confusion, with calls being received by the wrong people or cut off prematurely, and it struck me that the advent of the mobile phone has made this plot device a lot harder to achieve, so very much a play of its time.

There were times when a little more pace would have helped to bring out the comedy more effectively, but the level of confusion was ramped up nicely, culminating in the hilarious dinner party scene. It was a masterpiece of direction and acting to show both meals simultaneously, with William and Mary constantly switching sides on the set as the action moved from one dinner to the other and back again. Wonderful!

Lighting was effective throughout, and good quality props were used, adding to the realism of the set. I must congratulate the wardrobe department for Teresa’s fantastic mini dress – spot-on seventies’ fashion!

This was a well-directed piece that was obviously enjoyed by the capacity audience, and a credit to everyone involved.

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