by
Tony Annicone
Little Rhody Entertainment Writer
River Rep, the professional New York
repertory theatre company opens its 19th summer season
at the historic Ivoryton Playhouse with Alan Ayckbourn's
inventive farce, "How The Other Half Loves." This comedy
takes place in 1982 and is about three London couples
who are linked by their business association, but
divided by class. When an adulterous affair among them
comes to light, the guilty pair invent a lame excuse
about the third innocent couple which requires a more
elaborate attempt to cover it up and mayhem ensues.
Ayckbourn examines the dilemmas of three couples whose
marriages are troubled, but sets the action in two
different places at the same time and one scene occurs
on two different evenings at the same time. Director
Evan Thompson casts topnotch performers in these roles
and they leave the audience laughing at their crazy
antics and mixed up lives.
Evan's direction is excellent
especially in the dinner scene where the third couple
turns back and forth from each party with split second
timing. The set design by Nicole Coppinger helps the
audience keep track of the two different homes with the
8 flats used for the set. She accomplishes this with a
rich wooden paneling for the upper class couple and a
light blue for the lower class couple on alternate
flats. The swiveling chairs used by the third couple are
raised up so you don't miss a moment of the merriment at
both dinner parties. Stage manager Rychard Curtiss keeps
things moving smoothly backstage as well as calling the
cues for the numerous sound and lighting changes.
The wealthy couple, Frank and Fiona
Foster are played by Warren Kelley and Jackie Sidle.
Fiona is having an affair with Frank's business
associate Bob Phillips and she has been getting away
with it because of Frank is an addlebrained exercise
fanatic. Warren is hilarious as the dim bulb hubby with
his fantastic double takes and wacky stories. Frank
misconstrues things and gets the other couples into hot
water. Jackie who is usually a gum chewing tart, gets to
play the upper class snob with ice water in her veins in
this show. Fiona forgets her anniversary, looks down on
the lower class and makes disparaging comments about a
baby drooling on her carpet. His long stories that go
nowhere and her reactions to them are comic, too. The
lower class couple, Bob and Terry Phillips are played by
Owen Thompson and Elisabeth Rodgers. Owen makes Bob into
a pompous, drunken, wife beating cad. Bob can't stand
the messy house, the pesty off stage antics of the baby
and not having his meals made for him on time. Elisabeth
is a manic mess as Terry. She can't cope with the house,
the baby and the constant rejections of her letters to
the newspapers. One of the funniest moments occurs when
the third couple eats her horrible soup with air
freshener in it. Their argument scenes are farcical
and one of them turns into a love making session which
leads to a black eye. The third couple, William and Mary
Featherstone are played by David Christopher Wells and
Jenn Thompson. They have the most difficult roles in the
show especially in the dinner scene where their split
second timing is perfect. They have to react to the
antics of the others at first and finally have their
bigger reactions in the second act. David's funny bits
include wiping his hands on the curtains after Terry
hands him a dirty diaper and trying not to wet his pants
at the Foster's when he can't escape to get to the zoo.
Jenn who is a gorgeous blond, plays the dowdy, plain
looking, mousey Mary wonderfully. Some of her funny bits
include hiding behind her husband due to her shyness and
her making him apologize to her for the first time
because he has never been wrong in his life. So for a
comedic look at life in London, be sure to get to the
Ivoryton Playhouse to see this British farce. This
historic building built in 1908, became the first summer
stock theatre in Connecticut in 1930 and nearly a
century later it is still thriving and presenting
quality summer theatre by River Rep since 1987, in a
beautiful and air conditioned theatre.
HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES ( 29
June - 9 July, 2005)
River Rep, Ivoryton Playhouse,
103 Main Street, Ivoryton, CT
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