How the Other Half Loves

How the Other Half Loves is one of the cleverest, best constructed comedies of the late 20th Century. It’s also one of the funniest. This outstanding production also shows it to be one of the sharpest dissections of suburban marriage.

The relationships of three couples are at or near points of crisis, even if some of them don’t realise it. What starts as one adulterous relationship is soon spinning out of control as wrong-headed interpretations, jumped-to conclusions, misunderstood conversations and ill-judged attempts to smooth things over wreak emotional and physical havoc.

The best-known scene is the one in which the same guests attend two dinner parties on two nights, both shown simultaneously. This rarely fails to be astonishing and hilarious and it certainly is here. One of the unexpected strengths of this production is that it manages to make the final scene – a comparatively static sorting out of misunderstandings – almost equally funny, purely thanks to perfectly judged interplay between the characters.

The cast is exemplary, getting every laugh available but never allowing the audience to lose sight of the underlying reality, no matter how seemingly absurd the behaviour of each character. Nicholas le Prevost was born to play Frank Foster: slow thinking, well-meaning, somewhat pompous and disastrously wrong about almost everything. This is comic acting of near genius, whether he’s getting a laugh with a simple mumble or with a burst of hot plate juggling. Marsha Fitzalan is sublime as his adulterous wife, cut-glass sarcasm hiding frustration.

Richard Stacey is explosively animalistic as her partner in betrayal. He's rude and boorish but convincingly attractive to women at the same time. Claudia Elmhirst is his Guardian-reading, non-housewifely wife, just as volatile in a socially aware way.

The victims of these unwitting tormentors are the socially inept William and Mary Featherstone. Paul Kemp makes William a wonderfully prissy, boring man whose attempts at DIY are as unfortunate as his treatment of his wife. Mary is a highly-strung, nervous little mouse who seems totally out of her depth. Amanda Royle’s outstanding performance makes us laugh at her social gaffes but lets us also see a tenacious woman under the flutterings. Her quiet worm-turning at the end is beautifully done.

There have been many good productions of this play over the years. Director Alan Strachan and his cast have given us something more than that, a wildly funny evening at the theatre that reveals How the Other Half Loves to be an amazingly well-written comic masterpiece.