It's time for my review of How the Other Half Loves.
A family friend had been to see How the Other Half Loved earlier this week and highly recommended it, telling me that the acting in the show was phenomenal, so I decided to see it for myself.
How the Other Half Loves features a legendary cast of immensely talented actors and actresses consisting of Robert Daws, Caroline Langrishe, Charlie Brooks, Leon Ockenden, Matthew Cottle and Sara Crowe. Every single one of them gave outstanding and highly memorable performances. There was no weak link amongst them. All 6 cast members were perfectly cast and they all made such a great team. There are many positive things about this production, but its phenomenal cast was the highlight of the show.
Alan Ayckbourn, the playwright of How the Other Half Loves, is a name I have often heard, however I had not been familiar with any of his work. Despite only seeing one show of Ayckbourn's, I am already prepared to say what a brilliant playwright he is. The storyline of How the Other Half Loves follows three couples tangled in a web of lies, deceit and confusion. As Bob and Fiona clumsily try to cover up their affair, their spouses’ intervention only adds to the confusion. William and Mary Featherstone become hopelessly stuck in the middle, falsely accused of adultery and with no idea as to how they’ve become involved. Following this hilarious and well written story was so much fun and the 2 and a half hours flew by. I throughly enjoyed every minute of the play.
The staging is extraordinarily clever. The play shows two places at once throughout the whole play, merging two households together without using split staging. The creativity reaches its maximum when two dinner tables are merged with each other to show two different dinner parties at different times, but still at the same time for the audience. This requires careful direction and fast responses from the actors at all times. The staging was ingenious and like nothing I had ever seen before. It was great to experience something so out of the ordinary.
The set designer has the difficult task of creating a set that merges two households together. However, it was clear that this task was achieved to a great extent. The set design was extremely clever and very well thought-out. The play is set in the 60's, which I thought that the costume design captured very nicely. All costumes were very true to the time period, which shows that this production paid very close attention to detail.
In conclusion, this is an all-round excellent production and I urge all that are able to see it to do so.
The featured star of How the Other Half Loves is, drum roll please... ROBERT DAWS!
As previously mentioned, every single cast member in this production is outstanding, however my favourite was Robert Daws. Robert had a wonderful stage presence and impeccable comic timing, he was excellent in every single aspect and was the perfect choice for this role.
Now for my final verdict on How the Other Half Loves. I give How the Other Half Loves...
How the Other Half Loves is very deserving of its 4 star title; it's a magnificent production and I had a great time!
Think it should have got a higher rating? Agree with my rating? Think it should have got a lower rating? If so comment below.
Thanks for reading!
-The Reviewer
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