Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Nicholas Le Prevost, Jenny Seagrove, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jason Merrells, Gillian Wright, Matthew Cottle.
The perils of the affair, something that Alan Ayckbourn has spent his entire career getting a laugh out of, of making audiences take a look at themselves in the mirror and seeing just how farcical British morals are at times when confronted with a wrongly worded phrase of seduction and the results of a misunderstood feeling; it might never be how you live your life but it is certainly the impression of How The Other Half Loves.
The guiding principle of the play, the twin allusion to sex and shared spaces being seamlessly crossed and boundaries blurred are caught at the right moment as the scenes intersect with incredible timing. Like all of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays, timing is everything, one wrong word in the ear of the audience at the incorrect time and the whole play would crash and splinter into a thousand pieces, this was never an option when it comes to the splendid cast captivating the crowd at the Haymarket Theatre.
With the cast on absolute fire, playing up to the genuine and appreciative laughter coming from within the stalls, there was no time to ruminate on just how clever, how audacious, this play is. Even after nearly 50 years it still has the absolute charm to quicken the pulse, to allow arguably one of the greatest playwrights of modern times to stretch the crowd’s conceit just to the point of where nothing more can happen, only to be snapped with the beauty that is the twin bed fellows of great farce and Alan Ayckbourn’s into yet another drawing room mistimed confrontation.
It is magical stuff, one of Alan Ayckbourn’s finest, certainly up there with Between Mouthfuls, as one that delivers the written word into the mouths of actors who feast on the importance of such Britishness, such modesty and biting wit.
How The Other Half Loves, a recipe for true comedy in theatre, conducted superbly by Mr. Le Provost, possibly one of his most enjoyable encounters in a long and illustrious career, brought to life by the graft and sheer depth of talent in Tamzin Outhwaite, the dynamic of Matthew Cottle, Gillian Wright and Jason Merrells and the cool sophistication of Jenny Seagrove; this is after all love in the strangest of places, majestic in appearance and magnificent in its form, a true British great.
Ian D. Hall