Adam Gillen on starring in Alan Ayckbourn’s 'How the Other Half Loves'

Although well known for iconic TV comedy roles, acclaimed stage actor Adam Gillen is tackling his first comic play.

Summary

• Adam Gillen is starring in Alan Ayckbourn's comedy How the Other Half Loves
• His previous stage credits include Cabaret and A Taste of Honey
• He stars in How the Other Half Loves with Roger Allam and Dorothy Atkinson

Adam Gillen might never have seen or read Alan Ayckbourn's How the Other Half Loves before being cast as William Featherstone in the Old Vic production playing this summer. But Ayckbourn had always been a writer he admired. "I mean, he's a legend, isn't he?" he says. "I've always loved his story, his history and the kind of empire he's built as a writer in Scarborough."

Watching Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, however, remains one of his standout theatre memories. "I've always loved the way he creates farce with characters that feel familiar and relatable," Gillen says. "His plays aren't frothy. There's a depth to these people and their stories, whilst also being absolutely hilarious."

How the Other Half Loves, here directed by Phillip Breen, is one of Ayckbourn's earlier plays, but Gillen is convinced it still speaks directly to modern audiences. "This play reveals uncomfortable truths about relationships," he says. "People might see themselves reflected and recognise their own dynamics playing out on stage in a sort of absurdist way…[I hope audiences] leave thinking about their own relationships and how to communicate better than they do.”

That's because How the Other Half Loves revolves around three couples – the Fosters, the Phillips and the Featherstones – whose lives become increasingly entangled. "It takes place in a space that represents the Fosters' and the Phillips' homes simultaneously, which makes things really interesting," says Gillen. "One member of the Foster couple and one member of the Phillips couple are having an affair, and they're trying to pin the blame on a particularly dull couple from the office where they all work."

Gillen plays William. "He's the office bore," he says. "He's pedantic and quite unpleasant towards his wife, and he becomes the unlikely scapegoat for the affair. It's all really fun to play and very funny." Choreographing comedy so it appears to unfold spontaneously every evening is no easy feat. But Gillen says Ayckbourn's writing makes it feel surprisingly effortless. "Everything is there for you on the page. It's so specific. All the ums and ahs are written. All we have to do is respect what's there."

He goes as far as calling it "a perfect piece of comedy" – and that's exactly what drew him to the production in the first place. "I haven't done a lot of comedy. It's always been something that's happened almost accidentally, rather than something that's been intentionally billed as comedy," he says. That might seem a surprising admission for an actor whose credits include Fresh Meat and Benidorm. "I guess I find it a challenge, and I like to stretch myself," Gillen says. "I like working on things that require precision and timing, and I love being part of an ensemble working together to build a hysterical night at the theatre."

The ensemble in question includes Roger Allam and Dorothy Atkinson. "I mean, that's just really cool, isn't it?" Gillen says. "I've always admired their work. I've seen Roger in so many things. Sometimes I catch myself in rehearsal just watching him and thinking, 'Oh my God, that's Roger Allam.'"

As with the other shows in Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus’s final season, the play has been staged in the round. "Recent productions of this play have been in a proscenium arch," Gillen says, "but the round is how the play was originally written. It's not often done because not many spaces allow it." But he thinks the staging adds an extra layer of intensity to the comedy. "It increases the absurdity and the sense of danger. You can see everything in super 3D."

Gillen last worked in the round on a production of A Taste of Honey at the Royal Exchange in 2000. He still remembers the sense of openness the format offered. "The pressure of sightlines is lessened. But you don't want to cut anyone on stage off. You get a lot more freedom."

As we talk, Gillen's love of being on stage is obvious. He lights up at the thought of turning up for work night after night. "You really feel like you've earned your wage at the end of the week," he laughs. He's also looking forward to discovering what he'll be wearing. "I don't know what my costume is yet," he says. "That could be the funniest part."

Gillen has worked extensively on screen too, but it seems clear that the stage will keep pulling him back. In 2024, he starred as the Emcee in Rebecca Frecknall's West End production of Cabaret – "what an experience" – and has also appeared at the National Theatre, the Royal Exchange and Shakespeare's Globe. "Hearing the immediate response from the audience is incredibly addictive. And you get to live out a character's full journey in the space of an evening, which is satisfying."

What's his biggest career dream, I wonder? "The beauty of this profession is that you never know what's next. It hands you little gifts when you least expect it." So why should people see this production in particular? "Easy," he says, without missing a beat. "It's rarely done, and it's brilliant."

Book How the Other Half Loves tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

This article first appeared in the August 2026 issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Adam Gillen in rehearsals for How the Other Half Loves. (Photo by Manuel Harlan). Inset: with Dorothy Atkinson, in Cabaret. (Photo by Manuel Harlan and courtesy of production)