How the Other Half Loves

'How the Other Half Loves' will transfer to Duke of York's Theatre from July 7. This review is from the Theatre Royal Haymarket run.

For witty insight into the lives of the suburban middle classes, Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s your man – and has been for the 50-odd years he’s been writing, with over 70 plays to his name. Originally performed in 1969, ‘How The Other Half Loves’ is theatre for your mum and dad. Think sherry in drawing rooms, misunderstandings and mildly hilarious consequences. Alan Strachan’s revival is a decent production and a diverting night out. But not much more. 

There are three couples: the young and passionate Teresa and Bob Phillips, the old and stuffy Fiona and Frank Foster, and the dull intermediaries Mary and William Featherstone. Bob is having an affair with Fiona, Mary and William are scapegoated in order to cover it up, and Frank ends up brilliantly brandishing the wrong end of a pretty big stick. 

What doesn’t quite work is the different ways these couples are played. Tamzin Outhwaite and Jason Merrells make Teresa and Bob quite earthy and naturalistic, but Matthew Cottle and Gillian Wright burst onto the stage with absurdity, making William and Mary much broader comic caricatures than the other characters.

The lynchpin, however, and the production’s greatest strength is Nicholas Le Prevost as Frank, a bumbling and forgetful old gent, who manages to make every line and every action funny. 

Ayckbourn’s play is dated now, but not drastically so. The gender politics are a bit dodgy and mildly farcical comedies of manners are kind of passé, but physical comedy - executed well - is pretty timeless. And in Frank Foster, Ayckbourn has created an enduring comedy character, played to perfection by Le Prevost.