Theatre I How the Other Half Loves at the Wilbur

WE HAVE been enjoying ourselves immensely this spring. Guessing games and puzzlers are always fun and just when things seem to be on the downturn along comes another challenge. We were right about the Ali-Frazier fight, although we did not wish it that way, but we were wrong about the bust of Women's Lib at the architecture building. And now another guessing game is at hand.

The puzzler is How the Other Half Loves. Will this comedy, currently playing at the Wilbur Theatre, and destined for Broadway, soar or falter in New York?

Adultery has always been an enjoyable, although a sometimes tense hobby, and the play by Alan Ayckbourn tries to make the most of a situation where two lovers and their mates, making four, unwittingly include another pair, to complete a six-piece merry-go-round.

Sandy Dennis as Teresa Phillips and Phil Silvers as Frank Foster are the outs. It is her husband. Bop Phillips played by Richard Mulligan, and his wife, Fiona Foster played by Bernice Massi, who are having all the fun. Frantic to avoid discovery of their adultery, Fiona and Bob involve the Detweilers to explain away nights spent on the town. Meek Mary and wiggy William Detweiler tiptoe into the confusion, unaware that they are being used as excuses by the lovers. Sin is fun, and in the end Teresa and Frank discover the truth, but not before the cuckoos have had time to do quite a bit of fluttering.

We enjoyed Phil Silvers immensely and loved his interpretation of Frank Foster as the middle-American stooge, Sandy Dennis as Teresa Phillips was a bit too convincing as the awful housewife who drives her husband to drink and other women, and we were glad we did not have to see more of her. On the other hand, we wish that we had seen more of Bernice Massi, for she was every bit the type of woman we would like to be driven to. Richard Mulligan as Bob Phillips and Jeanne Hepple as Mary Detweiler were good, but Tom Aldredge as William Detweiler over-acted his part, forcing laughs from the audience, which subtracted from the thoroughly professional performances of the others.

THE PLAYWRIGHT used the interesting device of making one living room serve for both the Fosters' and Phillips' so that the audience could view both households simultaneously. It was a bold venture, and some viewers found it disconcerting, but generally it was an excellent device and could be improved upon enormously if more care was taken with the set. The costumes, too, could be richer.

Smash or flop? We should guess that the play has to be tightened in the beginning and at the end before it has a reasonable run on Broadway, but do not take our word for it. This comedy provides an enjoyable evening and a chance for the playgoer to know whether or not he is in tune with the New York audiences.