Ivoryton Playhouse Scores with Hilarious ‘How The Other Half Loves’
By Amy Barry – Special to the Living Section
Shore Publishing and Zip06
http://www.theday.com/article/20110428/ENT12/304289611
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“HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES” A LESSON IN INFIDELITY
BONNIE GOLDBERG 4/28/11
A well constructed lie can take on a life of its own once it is cast out into the universe. Very soon the truth will be obscured and rumor and conjecture will abound, causing confusion, consternation and, sometimes, a lot of comic consequences. Such is the delightful result when Alan Ayckbourn’s British comedy “How the Other Half Loves” creates a flimsy fabrication of fibs about infidelity at the Ivoryton Playhouse until Sunday, May 1.
On an inspired set by Tony Andrea two households are intertwined: Frank and Fiona Foster (Bill Kux and Jacqueline Hubbard) in elegant shades of blue and Bob and Terry Phillips (Nick Stevenson and Beverley Taylor) in peasant browns. Bob works for Frank and is carrying on an illicit affair with Frank’s wife. Unfortunately Fiona misses her own wedding anniversary when she is busy with Bob and Terry confronts Bob for an explanation as to why he came home drunk at 2 a.m.
Into the valley of the shadow of untruths are swept a totally innocent couple, Mary and William Detweiler (Alanna Wilson and B. Brian Argotsinger). William also works for Frank’s company and has just been promoted into his department. At simultaneous dinner parties, which you have to see to believe, the Detweilers are the guests of both the Fosters and the Phillips and the results, culinary and otherwise, are disasterously funny.
The Detweilers have become, unbeknownst to themselves, the excuses for Fiona and Bob’s absences from home, as both claimed they were helping Mary and Bill with their marital problems. Lawrence Thelen directs this marital merry-go-round with a mischievous hand.
For tickets ($40, seniors $35, students $20, children $15), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860- 767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org. Performances are Thursday at 7:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m and Sunday at 2 p.m..
Let this trio of couples demonstrate how to repair toothbrushes, clogged drains and broken marriages with skill, a screwdriver and plenty of duct tape.
