The new production of Alan Ayckbourn's classic runs until 19 September
8 / 10
But look closer and you see that the sexual chicanery operates along class dynamics. The Fosters are upper-middle class. Patriarch Frank is the head of a vaguely defined “department” and a droning bore overproud of his paternal role. Roger Allam relishes in sending up Frank’s public school pompousness, bobbing around like a stiff-necked owl, haplessly exacerbating the confusion with his amateur sleuthing. The Phillips, by contrast are working class: Bob works at the same firm, several rungs down the ladder and waspishly prowls around before wriggling away from his wife’s suspicions of infidelity.
