Full cast for How The Other Half Loves at the Old Vic confirmed

The Old Vic has announced the full company for its revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves. 

Phillip Breen will direct Ayckbourn’s 1969 comedy, which runs from 29 July to 19 September 2026, with a press night on 11 August. Roger Allam and Dorothy Atkinson will star, joined by Ayesha Antoine as Teresa Phillips, Laura Elsworthy as Mary Featherstone, Adam Gillen as William Featherstone and Rowan Polonski as Bob Phillips.

Considered one of Ayckbourn’s breakthrough works, the play follows three couples whose lives become entangled after accusations of infidelity lead to a web of misunderstandings and deception.

Breen said: “I’m so excited about a new generation of audiences experiencing Ayckbourn for the first time, with its big laughs and its deep sadnesses. Alan Ayckbourn is not only one of the English stage’s most brilliant comedians, but one of its great formal pioneers, too. How the Other Half Loves is the first time Ayckbourn plays around with theatre’s two essential building blocks, space and time – and the result is thrilling.”

The production marks a return to the in-the-round configuration for which the play was originally written. Breen directs a creative team that includes set and costume designer Rob Howell, lighting designer Azusa Ono, sound designer Dyfan Jones, associate director Phillippe Cato, associate costume designer Lucy Gaiger and wigs, hair and make-up designers Campbell Young Associates.

Tickets for How the Other Half Loves are now on sale.