Review: HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES at Castle Craig Players

On Friday, May 2nd, I had the pleasure of seeing another first-rate production as put on by the Castle Craig Players at the Almira F. Stephan Memorial Playhouse in Meriden, CT, a comedy called HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES, written by Alan Ayckbourn. Under the excellent directing of Pamela Amodio, this first-rate cast includes Wilson Belbin, Samantha Brown, Gina Marie Davies, Richard Gaudiosi, Cindy Harris and Jeffrey Liggett all of whom have a strong stage presence and excellent stage chemistry with each other.

This show uses a unique staging style that I have never seen before in any other production. The set is simultaneously a room in two different houses, without moving the set at all to distinguish the houses, only the entrance doors towards back center stage. The set is simultaneously the house of married couple Frank and Fiona Foster (Jeffery Liggett and Gina Marie Davies, respectively), and married couple Bob and Teresa Phillips (Richard Guadiosi and Cindy Harris, respectively.) In the story, however, each of those couples have their own place, the latter couple with a baby (not shown on stage.) To add to the originality of the concept, the couples appear simultaneously on stage, but without directly interacting with the other couple (beyond on the telephone) in the first act. Each husband and wife pair interact with each other, but not with the other couple.

This unique style added the elements of intrigue and suspense. With this being my first exposure to this show, various thoughts went through my mind as I was trying to process what was happening. Was this a situation like A.R. Gurney’s The Dining Room where it was depicting different residents in the same location throughout the years and decades? Was this a case like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, where people could observe shadows of the past, present, and projected future, without being able to interact with them?  Were some characters only delusionally in the minds of the other characters? Did some characters represent the thoughts and fantasies of the other characters? Were the characters representing ghosts or beings otherwise in the spiritual realm? Were some of the characters in reality one in the same? The novelty of the style enhances the suspense and had me anticipating a twist all throughout! Was there in fact a twist? Come to the show to find out!

The storyline involves an affair that took place on a Wednesday night, between Bob Phillips and Fiona Foster. Bob Phillips explains his whereabouts to his wife by claiming that he was out drinking with co-worker William Detweiler (Wilson Belbin.) After communicating on the phone with Fiona Foster, she uses the same family’s name when explaining her whereabouts to her husband, saying she was with William’s wife, Mary Detweiler (Samantha Brown.) Both Bob and Fiona make the false claim to their respective spouses that there may be infidelity in the Detweiler marriage.

Frank had made Thursday night plans for the Detweilers to come to their house for dinner. Arranged by Teresa, plans were made for the Detweilers to come over to Bob and Teresa’s house on Friday for dinner. Both dinners take place simultaneously on stage, with the Detweiler focus being on whichever of the other couples is interacting with them at the moment. Thus, there is a constant back and forth between Thursday night and Friday night, without changing sets or even changing the location of the Detweilers on stage.

The humor (both verbal and slapstick) increases as the show goes on. This cast brings the maximum out in their characters by their stage antics and line deliveries.

The show depicts the danger of deception and how a lie can snowball and adversely impact innocent people, as well as the perpetrators of the deception.

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