Alan Ayckbourn is often called “the British Neil Simon,” doubtless because both
playwrights are prolific and popular writers of stage comedies.  There are at least
two differences, however.  Ayckbourn, though twelve years Simon’s junior, has
written more than twice as many stage plays (70 to Simon’s 33), a truly
prodigious output. Even more important, perhaps, are the clever (even brilliant)
conceits that Ayckbourn’s comedies are known for.

Last season’s wonderful The Norman Conquests (at Theatre 40) comprise three
plays, all taking place over the same weekend with the same cast of characters,
each happening in a different part of the same house.  Miraculously, each can
be enjoyed as a complete play without the audience feeling that something is
“missing.” Also last season, A Chorus of Disapproval (at the Odyssey) provides a
backstage look at an amateur theatrical troupe’s attempt to stage The
Beggar’s Opera, in which the present day action begins to mirror that of the
show being staged.

Now the Odyssey, and director Ron Sossi, have returned with their fifth
Ayckbourn production, How the Other Half Loves, and the play’s conceit is one
of the playwright’s cleverest.

Action in two neighboring homes takes place simultaneously on the same set! 
The audience is clued into this from the very first scene, when a character in one
of the houses telephones the other house, and both characters talk to each
other side by side, though clearly not in the same room. In the second half of
Act One, Ayckbourn goes one step further, and plays with time as well as space. 
What’s happening in one of the homes is actually taking place a day later than
what’s happening in the other!  

Cleverness alone is not enough to have made How the Other Half Loves, and
other Ayckbourn plays, such worldwide hits.  They are also funny, often hilariously
funny, and that, combined with their clever premises, is very good reason to rush
to any theater presenting one of his works.

Right now, the Odyssey gives local audiences just that lucky chance.

Neighbors Fiona (Sarah Brooke) and Bob (Ron Bottitta) are having an adulterous
affair.  To explain to their respective spouses, Frank (Greg Mullavey) and Teresa
(Tracie Lockwood), where they were the night before, each claims to have been
comforting an acquaintance who believes that his/her spouse is cheating on
him/her. The trouble is, the two supposedly cheating spouses are husband and
wife (both of whom are too boring to ever even think of having an affair). And
that’s only the beginning of the fun and surprises.

Ayckbourn is a master of farce, and like any good farce, How the Other Half
Loves, requires an expert cast with split-second timing. Director Sossi has
assembled just such a cast.  From absent-minded Mullavey, to prim and proper
Brooke, to harried housewife Lockwood to philandering slob Bottita, each gives a
masterful comic performance, as do Scott Roberts and Kate Hollinshead as
William and Mary Featherstone, the innocent (and very funny) victims of Bob
and Fiona’s fibs.  Only Hollinshead is British in real life, yet audiences would be
hard pressed to figure that out, the rest of the cast’s accents being for the most
part quite authentic.  (Isn’t it amazing how a British accent can so transform an
American actor?)

Excellent as this troupe of actors is, and skilled as is director Philips at British farce,
the production wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the outstanding work of
set designer Victoria Profitt and lighting designer Derrick McDaniel.  Profitt uses six
alternating panels (half two-toned blue and white, half blue with green trim), to
let us know which house we're in.  Half the furniture belongs to one house, and
half to the other. Only the sofa and coffee table belong to both (though said
sofa does seem a bit nice for the sloppier, less well furnished house).  The dining
table is a wonder, actually two tables crisscrossing.  During the dinner party
scene, the visiting couple (Mary and William) swivel this way and that way to
show which table they’re at, with increasing rapidity as the mayhem progresses. 
Brilliant! McDaniel’s lighting is equally important in clueing the audience in to
which house we’re in at any given moment.  1970’s costumes by Jennifer Koster
fit each character to a T.

How the Other Half Loves would provide laughs galore even had Ayckbourn told
it in a more traditional manner, but as in others of his deservedly popular hits, it’s
the cleverness of the conceit that ups this play from enjoyable to must-see. The
Odyssey plans to continue exploring Ayckbourn’s oeuvre, something L.A.
audiences can look forward to with joyful anticipation. In the meantime, don’t
miss How the Other Half Loves.

Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Sun. 7
p.m. only Aug. 26, and Sep. 2.) Jul. 14-Sep. 2.  (310) 477-2055. www.
odysseytheatre.com.

--Steven Stanley