GEORGINA BROWN: Roger Allam’s cuckold is in a comedy class of his own

How The Other Half Loves (Old Vic, London) 

Rating: Four out of five stars 

Alan Ayckbourn’s ingenious 1969 comedy How The Other Half Loves is a theatrical marvel.

While much of the comic business depends on landlines, class snobbery and frustrated wives chained to the sink, this farcical but forensic dissection of three miserable marriages has a timeless capacity to amuse.

Thanks, in Philip Breen’s fluent but far from flawless revival, to Roger Allam.

Wearing a white vest tucked into patterned Y-fronts, his double-chin wobbling like blancmange, umming and erring, hopelessly and hilariously inept, he oozes pomposity as Frank while always getting the wrong end

This post was originally published on this site

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.