How The Other Half Loves: Frequently Asked Questions
Alan Ayckbourn's Archivist Simon Murgatroyd's answers some of the most frequently asked questions about Alan Ayckbourn's How The Other Half Loves. If you have a question about this or any other of Alan Ayckbourn's plays, you can contact the website via the Contact Us page.What is the ideal way to stage How The Other Half Loves?
In-the-round! Any other staging compromises the play's effectiveness. How The Other Half Loves was conceived and written for in-the-round performance and its world premiere performance, directed by Alan Ayckbourn, was in-the-round. The idea of its overlaid apartments is most simply and effectively achieved within the round space as the floor becomes the focus.
It's also worth noting that the published edition of the play by Samuel French is - at best - a compromise and at worst something which bears little relation to the author's original intention. To understand this, one must understand that the only thing within the edition written by Alan is the dialogue. When the play was originally published by Evans in 1972, they based it on the West End premiere of the play, performed in the proscenium arch. Alan did not direct that production and, as a result, all the stage directions were based upon a) an unsatisfactory production, b) the prompt copy for that production and c) the copy-editor's own decisions when the prompt script wasn't clear. None of the stage directions were written by Alan Ayckbourn nor feature in the original manuscript for the play. This version was then reproduced by Samuel French and included the stage directions and staging tips including photographs of the West End production, which Alan Ayckbourn feels do not help the play at all and was a flawed design anyway.
So it is worth bearing in mind, the script essentially reflects an unsatisfactory production of the play which Alan Ayckbourn did not direct and which did not accurately reflect his intentions for the play. Only the dialogue is true to his intentions!
How The Other Half Loves is often described as a farce, but Alan Ayckbourn says he has written only one farce - Taking Steps. Is How The Other Half Loves a farce?
It depends! Depending on how you define farce, How The Other Half Loves could be described as a farce rather than, say, a comedy. However, it wasn't written as a farce and - in a strict definition of the term farce - it doesn't fulfil the generally accepted criteria; hence why Alan Ayckbourn considers Taking Steps to be his only true farce. However, the perception of farce as a genre is generally broader than it once was and there are enough farcical-type elements within the play that it arguably could be considered a farce. Alan Ayckbourn dislikes labelling his work and generally refers to them as just 'plays', however he has previously said he considers How The Other Half Loves to be a comedy which occasionally verges on farce.
I'm interested in staging How The Other Half Loves in North America and have the Americanised version of the script. Should I use this or the original version?
Until the early 2000s, the only text of How The Other Half Loves available in North America was the Samuel French edition of the original Broadway production, which was heavily 'Americanised' by Alan Ayckbourn and the director Gene Saks. The publishers Samuel French has now replaced this edition with the original British text of the play. Strictly speaking, the British version of the play should be used. The 'Americanised' version was always a compromise and did the play no favours. Given American audiences appear to have had no problem whatsoever with all the many other Ayckbourn plays, the preference has to be for the original unaltered text.
I saw the original West End production in 1970 starring Robert Morley and recall it was substantially different, is it possible to read that version of the play?
No. The West End production of the play was substantively altered by the actor Robert Morley, who played Frank Foster. He was given to improvising and altering the script to suit his purposes and what he believed the audience expected from him. As a result, the play as performed often bore little resemblance to the play as written by Alan Ayckbourn - and none of the changes were done with Alan's approval. Whilst the playwright accepts the production was very successful, he does not feel it reflected his play as written and was merely Robert Morley's version of the play. Other than several additions which Alan did incorporate into the play, no other record of Morley's changes and alterations survive.
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.