Hampton Theatre Presents HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES, Now thru 6/9

Three couples, an indiscretion, a cover-up, accusations and crumbling alibis on overlapping sets all lead to confusion and uproarious comedy in the Hampton Theatre Company's revival of Alan Ayckbourn's "How The Other Half Loves," opening tonight, May 23 for a three-week run in Quogue.

Beloved by both audiences and actors, the prolific Alan Ayckbourn has won wide renown for his ability to find not only the humor but the heart in the way that couples work-or don't work. In addition to "How The Other Half Loves," which the company originally produced in 1992, the HTC has mounted two productions of another Ayckbourn play, "Bedroom Farce," in 1986 and 2011, and a single production of another of the playwright's couples comedies, "Absurd Person Singular," in 2000.

For "How The Other Half Loves," Ayckbourn created one of his most ingenious theatrical devices, with the living rooms of two of the three couples overlapping on the same set and sharing a common dining table. The shared table allowed the playwright to have two different, disastrous dinner parties on two different evenings play out simultaneously in the same scene, a trick that prompted the reviewer for The New York Times to write of the original Broadway production in 1971: "A theatrical adroitness as clever as tennis at its best."

HTC Artistic Director Diana Marbury, who played the role of Fiona Foster in the 1992 production, directs a cast of six, made up of three HTC regulars and three newcomers to the company.

Andrew Botsford and Rosemary Cline, last seen at the Quogue theater in the 2012 spring production of A.R. Gurney's "Black Tie," play the befuddled Frank Foster, the employer of the other two men in the cast, and his elegant and (almost always) faithful and supportive wife, Fiona.

Jessica Ellwood, who appeared most recently in the company's 2009 production of "Wait Until Dark," plays Teresa Phillips, a scattered young mother and obsessive letter-to-the-editor writer who is desperate to help, whether it be some worthy cause or someone she knows.

The role of Teresa's husband, Bob Phillips, referred to by Frank as "the office Romeo," is played by New York City actor Jonathan Holtzman. The third husband and wife in the cast, William and Mary Detweiler, are played by New York actor Mark McCarthy and another New York actor and part-time Remsenburg resident Jane Cortney.

The set is designed by Sean Marbury; lighting is by Sebastian Paczynski; set decor by Diana Marbury; and costumes by Teresa LeBrun.

"How The Other Half Loves" opens on May 23 and runs through June 9 at the Quogue Community Hall on Jessup Avenue. Showtimes are Thursdays at 7, Fridays and Saturdays at 8, and Sundays at 2:30. The Hampton Theatre Company will once again be offering special dinner theater packages in collaboration with the Southampton, Westhampton Beach, Hampton Bays and Quogue libraries. Complete information about the library packages is available on the company website.

To reserve show tickets, visit www.hamptontheatre.org, or call OvationTix at 866-811-4111.

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