REVIEW: How the Other Half Loves at the Everyman Theatre
"Cleverly done and so very very funny!"
Alan Ayckbourn's comedy is a VERY funny play with six very different characters played by an all-star cast. It’s 1969 and the lives of six people are about to become entwined in a fashion that will keep you laughing all evening.
Fiona is played by the excellent Caroline Langrishe, the seemingly perfect wife and hostess harbouring a secret. Frank, bumbles through life as her hilarious husband played perfectly by Robert Daws. Theresa, or Terry is played by the feisty but superb Charlie Brooks, a vivacious outgoing woman stuck at home with a baby, but determined to fight for her man. Her husband Bob (Leon Ockenden) is a man with more than a shoe to hide and is a bit of a 'Jack the Lad'. Joining the plot is the mousey 'wouldn’t say boo to a goose' Mary, played to a ‘T’ by Sara Crowe. Her husband is the hapless and unassuming William who is played by Matthew Cottle.
Someone is having an affair but rather than let the naughty secret out a story is concocted about a distant mutual acquaintance with marital woes - all completely fabricated. Things get out of hand and before long the inevitable happens and all three couples are involved.
This ingenious production is played out with two scenes set on the stage and two scenes played out throughout. At first you do wonder what is going on but it quickly becomes apparent and you follow the plot with ease. How the cast managed to keep each story line separate without crossing into each other is another attribute of this play that keeps you transfixed. It’s very cleverly done and hats off to the cast particularly during the final dinner scene - it could have gone so horribly wrong!
In conclusion, it has to be said how perfect all the cast were for their parts and it is one of the successes of this play. How the Other Half Loves runs until Saturday - tickets are selling fast.
Explore Gloucestershire
7 November 2017
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