How the Other Half Loves is a theatrical farce, written by Alan Ayckbourn in 1969.
The cast of six consists of three married couples: the wealthy Frank and Fiona Foster whose relationship is polite and rather evasive, Frank's employee Bob Phillips and his wife Teresa who fight frequently, and another employee, socially-climbing William Featherstone and his timid wife Mary. The plot concerns an adulterous affair between Fiona and Bob, both of whom rope in William and Mary as their alibis to conceal the affair. This prompts both of the wronged spouses to invite the Featherstones to dinner on successive nights, with both dinners being staged simultaneously on the same set, the Featherstones swivelling back and forth between them. The chain of comical misunderstandings resulting from the affair continues into the final scene.
The play was first performed at the Library Theatre in 1969, directed by Ayckbourn and with Elisabeth Sladen in the role of Fiona.
How the Other Half Loves contains examples of:
- Dinner with the Boss: William and Mary have dinner with William's boss Frank; this is acted out simultaneously on stage with their dinner the following night at the home of co-worker Bob and Teresa.
- Fake Alibi: To cover for their affair and explain their absence on Wednesday night, Bob Phillips and Fiona Foster both separately lie to their spouses that they were consoling, respectively, William and Mary Featherstone, each over being supposedly cheated on by the other. To ensure that the Featherstones do not get wind of this fiction, Bob and Fiona swear their spouses to secrecy over the matter. In the second act, Frank Foster discovers that Fiona was not with Mary that night, but mistakenly thinks that the latter was having an affair with Bob and that Fiona lied to cover for Mary (rather than for herself).
- The Ghost: Teresa and Bob's young son never appears, but Teresa frequently has to rush off-stage to tend to him, and upbraids Bob for not being more involved.
- Harassing Phone Call: Teresa thinks she is receiving these. It's really Fiona who is urgently trying to reach Bob to discuss how to conceal their affair; she hangs up whenever Teresa answers. When Frank calls the house at the end of the story, she mistakes him for the ghost caller and offers to meet up to discuss his supposed problems.
- Here We Go Again!: Ambiguously. The play ends with Frank calling Bob to confront him over the affair, only to be answered by Teresa, who, assuming him to be the "ghost caller" from earlier, offers to meet up with him...
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Frank, incorrectly believing that Bob and Mary are having an affair, invites William over to let him know, and initiates the conversation by saying that Fiona had deceived him (meaning that she had lied about meeting Mary on the night in question, which he assumes she did to cover for Mary). Fiona mistakenly thinks he is talking about the affair she had with Bob (which Frank actually doesn't know about), and believes Frank is trying to humiliate her by airing her dirty laundry in front of William. This leads to a conversation rife with misunderstandings.Fiona: What are you trying to do, humiliate me?Frank: No, William has a right to know.Fiona: William has a right to know?! Well, let's invite the postman, ask the butcher; let's get everybody in, make a real show of me!Frank: What's the postman got to do with it?Fiona: Oh, darling, I think you're sinking really low. At least if you hit me, I'd know you cared. Go on, hit me, hit me!
- Shrinking Violet: Mary is very timid, and is especially intimidated by her husband. At the end of the play, she stands up for herself and justifiably demands an apology from him, which he half-lives.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Bob and Teresa's relationship, in spades. He cheats on her with Fiona, they fight often with emotions running high, and actually get physical on the evening of their dinner with the Featherstones. Teresa dramatically leaves Bob, but they hug and patch things up in the final scene.
- Sleeping with the Boss's Wife: Bob and Fiona's affair kicks off the plot. In the final scene, Fiona admits her infidelity to Frank but doesn't reveal the man's name, although Frank appears to work it out.
- The Unapologetic: William finds it very difficult to apologise for his controlling behaviour toward Mary. He tries to but cannot spit out the word "sorry"; she accepts it.
- Un-Confession: Frank Foster is trying to tell William Featherstone about the latter's wife Mary supposedly having an affair with Bob Phillips. Fiona Foster, who unbeknownst to Frank actually did had an affair with Bob, thinks Frank is talking about her and trying to humiliate her in front of William, leading to a conversation rife with misunderstandings. Fiona is right in the middle of confessing to the affair when Frank interrupts and unwittingly tips her off about his misunderstanding, at the very moment when she is about to mention herself as Bob's paramour.Fiona: (despondantly) Well, William, what my husband is trying to say, in rather a sordid way, is that he is trying to tell you about a petty trivial little love affair between Bob Phillips... and...Frank: (interrupting) ...and your wife, William. Precisely. (Fiona does a massive double-take)
