Alan Ayckbourn's ingenious 1969 farce How the Other Half Loves has been revived at the Old Vic in London, with a fizzing cast led by Roger Allam, and is running until 19 September. The production, directed by Philip Breen, brings the suburban romp of envy and infidelity to life with a period setting and a cast of six that delivers both verbal and physical humour.
A Structural Masterpiece of Farce
The play, Ayckbourn's ninth, is renowned for its clever staging: the Phillipses and Fosters occupy half the set each, with actors blanking out characters in the other house even while making phone calls side by side. In the second scene, the Featherstones, unwittingly used as adultery alibis, attend dinner parties on consecutive nights, with actors swivelling their heads at tables laid across each other. This middle act is tied with Michael Frayn's Noises Off as the most ingeniously crafted and reliably hilarious half hour in English farce, according to the review.
The play marked the start of Ayckbourn's experiments in theatrical time and space, leading to later works like The Things We Do for Love (1997) and House & Garden (1999), which occupied two theatres simultaneously.
Period Details and Updated Attitudes
While the geometric cleverness remains fresh, some aspects date: men can't make their own breakfast, have clothes laid out by their wives, and offices were completely male. However, Ayckbourn's policy of giving every actor a big moment provides the wives with more agency than much 1970s comedy. Even Mrs Featherstone, nicknamed “Mouse”, finally roars.
Director Philip Breen treats it as a period drama, with 1969 hits like The Boxer and Where Do You Go to My Lovely? covering scene changes. Rob Howell's sets and costumes delight in an era where transistor radios, Trimphones and egg nog were exotic novelties.
A Fizzing Cast
The cast of six is more than half the joy, with Roger Allam's Frank, managerial pomposity concealing kindness, delivering a magnificent scene as a hapless marital Poirot. Laura Elsworthy's Mary wins a big laugh via backstage athleticism, and Ayesha Antoine's Teresa shows how spirited acting can update an older play's social attitudes.
Ayckbourn, who has reached 92 plays with The Trial of Romeo Oscar premiering next month in Scarborough, followed this play with 83 more, but his early work still delivers two great halves. The production offers a tempting sex farce double bill with Florian Zeller's The Truth this London summer.
