The Fusion Theatre Company is the first company in Albuquerque to perform “How the Other Half Loves,” a play written by Alan Ayckbourn, who also wrote “Standing Room Only.”
Director Gil Lazier said “How the Other Half Loves” is a fast-paced classic comedy that has entertained audiences since the show opened Sept. 17.
“This (play) is about the difficulty of marriage,” Lazier said. “It’s about three couples who are having different kinds of trouble in their respective marriages.
Ayckbourn likes to play tricks with the theater and time and space. In this play there is action going on in two different spaces at the same time.”
The events take place at two different apartments in New York City, and both apartments are built into the same set, Lazier said.
“So you see two different couples going through their days in the same space simultaneously,” he said.
Lazier said it’s a challenge to direct a play with time and space changes
in it.
“It’s kind of like a puzzle, because there’s a lot of event planning that has to go on,” he said. “It’s a very
physical play, so the action is very fast, and there are a couple of sequences in the play where combat is necessary in two different environments at the same time. I was lucky that I had a great cast.”
College students will enjoy “How the Other Half Loves” because it deals with psychological and sociological issues, Lazier said.
“With all the comedy in it, it still offers a kind of social commentary on marriage in today’s world,” he said. “It’s about life and about people’s psychology. It presents it in such a funny way that it’s interesting and kind of educational at the same time, too.”
Cast member Ross Kelly, who plays Bob, said the play is a good old-fashioned farce that will entertain anyone with a sense of humor.
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“It’s a fun, intelligent comedy, and you don’t really have to think much. It’s just there,” he said. “It’s just constant madcap, but you have to keep up with the whole thing because it moves really fast.”
Kelly said the play is about a fling between his character and his
boss’s wife.
“It gets kind of covered up after a night they both come home very late and both make excuses for why they weren’t home,” he said. “They use another couple that works in the company … as their scapegoat, and both of our spouses decide to contact the wife of the husband that I said I was out with all night, and invite them to dinner.”
Lazier said the cast members are comfortable working together and with Lazier, which made it easier to direct the play.
“I directed three of the six cast members before, so I knew how they worked and they knew me,” Lazier said. “I had seen the work of two of the other cast members, so that’s five out of six. And the one cast member that I hadn’t worked with before was just great, and she fit in just beautifully. The rehearsals were a lot of fun, because there was a lot of trust involved.”
“How the Other Half Loves”
Thursday and Friday: 8 p.m.
Saturday: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Sunday: 6 p.m.
The Cell Theater
700 First St. NW
$30 general, $10 students
liveatthecell.com
