Three couples, two dinner parties, one adulterous affair. International City Theatre is now presenting How the Other Half Loves, the comedy by Alan Ayckbourn that ingeniously juggles time and space to create a whirlwind of chaos, confusion and laughter.
In the madcap world of How the Other Half Loves, Bob Phillips (Adam J. Smith) is having an affair with Fiona (DeeDee Rescher). When it looks as if Bob’s wife (Jodi Fleisher) and Fiona’s husband (Gregory North) are about to put two and two together, the guilty lovers use a third, unsuspecting couple (James May and Erin Anne Williams) as their alibi. The ensuing action leads to a string of misunderstandings with hilarious consequences.
What sets How the Other Half Loves apart from other farces is its unusual set— two living rooms in separate houses overlap on stage, allowing the audience to see and hear what’s happening miles apart and at different points in time— including the frantically hilarious scene when we witness the hapless third couple as Thursday night dinner guests in one home and Friday night dinner guests in the other, with all of the action occurring on stage simultaneously.
How the Other Half Loves runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2 pm, through May 23. Tickets are $32 and $37 on Thursdays, and $37 and $42 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. International City Theatre is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 E. Ocean Blvd. For reservations and information, call the ICT Box Office at (562) 436-4610 or go to www.ictlongbeach.org.
