Playgoers of Lethbridge is revisiting “How The Other Half Loves,” Feb. 1-4 at the Yates Theatre.
“It’s a play about infidelity and I am the infidel,” grinned Stephen Graham, who plays “Office Romeo” Bob Phillips.
“It’s just so cleverly written. It’s a farce but without the slamming doors,” he described.
He is enjoying working with Playgoers of Lethbridge veterans Ed Bayly and Sheila Mattson, plus director Linda Bayly.
“ We did it about 35 years ago. It is so funny, so I was looking forward to doing it. I wanted a challenge,” said director Linda Bayly.
“(Playwright) Alan Ayckbourn is such a clever playwright,” she enthused
The play which premiered in 1969 in London and on Broadway in 1971, examines the lighter side of infidelity as three different couples, the Fosters, the Phillips and the Detweillers cope with two of them having affairs.
“ It is so funny it is cleverly written,” Bayly said, which is the consensus of the cast, who all said as much.
It has been a challenge, if only because they have the sets for two households on the same stage. There is one scene taking place on two different days around the same dinner table with all six of the cast members.
“It’s a farce, but without all of the running around and opening and shutting doors,” she said.
She didn’t change much in the play, other than not having all of the couples as English.
“ I wanted to stay true to Alan Ayckbourn’s words,” she said.
The production stars Jane Meaker as Terri Phillips, Stephen Graham as Bob Phillips, Naomi Snelgrove as Mary Detweiler, Josh Hammerstedt as William Detweiler, Sheila Mattson as Fiona Foster and Ed Bayly as Frank Foster.
Ed Bayly was in Playgoers original production of “How The Other Half Loves,— as William Detweiler.
“I played the husband of the younger couple, now I’m playing the older husband,” Ed Bayly said.
“Frank is the senior partner of the business. All of the husbands work for me. He doesn’t really realize what is happening,” he said admitting while good intentioned, his misunderstandings end up causing complete chaos.
“It’s a very cleverly written play. And Alan Ayckbourn is a very accomplished writer of comedies. He’s still alive and has written over 80 plays,” he said.
He is enjoying not only being back on stage for the first time in several years since “Moon Over Buffalo,” he is also enjoying working under his wife’s direction.
“She’s doing a great job. The first time Playgoers did it in Coaldale and we brought it to Lethbridge. Linda was working backstage on it,” he reminisced.
Sheila Mattson, who plays Fiona Foster is enjoying her role.
“It’s a really wonderful opportunity to be performing with my favourite people,” she enthused. So she was happy to answer the call.
“I thought I was too long in the tooth to play Fiona,” she said.
“She’s in a boring, humdrum co-dependent relationship. They want nothing to do with each other, so she has an affair with Bob Phillips. They both blame other people,” she said.
Josh Hammerstedt, who has been in numerous productions with Playgoers including “Send Me No Flowers in October, is enjoying his role as William Detweiller.
“I’m an obsessively controlling husband. And I’m absolutely positive I’m always right,” Hammerstedt said of his character.
“If there’s something to know, I know it.”
As a complete contrast, Naomi Snelgrove, a veteran of numerous main stage productions, plays his wife Mary.
“She’s a slightly backwards wife who puts her trust in her husband,” she said.
“ There are three couples and two of them are having affairs,” Hammerstedt said.
“And both of these people are using us as an excuse, as their alibis,” Snelgrove added.
“And it ends up they think we’re having affairs, which we’re not,” she continued.
The play has come together in three weeks, when the cast started the intensive rehearsal process, though the cast was chosen right in the middle of rehearsals for “Send Me No Flowers.”
“We’re rehearsing like crazy. I’ve really enjoyed the process and I’m enjoying working with the people,” Hammerstedt said.
“It’s almost like a little family,” Graham said of working with the small and tight knit cast.
Graham is looking forward to opening night.
“I’m wearing less clothes than I ever have before,” he laughed.
“It’s such a funny play. When you make the jokes and the audience laugh in the right places, that’s when I feel the biggest rush. I feel the energy coming back from the audience,” Graham continued.
Tickets for the show cost $20. The show begins at 8 p.m. Feb. 1-4 at the Yates Memorial Centre.
