STAGE REVIEWS : Generally Tepid Business . . . or an Inspired Comic Weave? : The Garden Grove Community Theater doesn’t have much to work with in the tame ‘How the Other Half Loves.’

“How the Other Half Loves” is probably Alan Ayckbourn’s most popular comedy; it seems to have found everlasting life on revival stages.

But this flyweight number can’t be called Ayckbourn’s best work. The British playwright, who has been described as an urbane Neil Simon, can write pungently, as he did in “Intimate Exchanges.” But “Other Half” is generally tepid business that lacks original terrain (subject: marital infidelities involving the boss’s wife) and often pushes too hard in its attempt to find laughs.

The Garden Grove Community Theatre production of “Other Half” doesn’t do much with it--but again, there’s not much to work with. We get, in one of Ayckbourn’s trademark manipulations of dramatic structure, three separate couples moving through their haphazard lives simultaneously. Everybody occupies much of the same space, with the action occasionally overlapping. To director Ray Williams’ credit, the play does not become too confusing. If only it were funnier.

Bob (Keith McCarthy), “office Romeo” and basic cad, is sleeping with Fiona (Diana Kolchier), whose husband, Frank (Mark Beaver), is a self-centered bore who ignores her. Fiona just wants to get some kicks. Soon after the play starts, things begin to unravel. Bob’s wife, Teresa (Cleta Cohen), isn’t brainy, but she has enough gray matter to know something’s up. Frank, on the other hand, is dim to everything. In fact, he thinks twitchy Mary (Ilona Honeyman), who’s married to meek William (Jeff Bickel), is doing nasties with Bob.

The performances follow the customary path of domestic farce, with lots of energy, some face-making and comic gestures. None of the approaches really stand out in any way, although Beaver’s handling of Frank is remarkable for its approximation of Monty Python’s John Cleese in a pompous mood. The best job is done by Bickel, who lends William the twerpy self-conscious air of someone on the verge of evolving into a complete nincompoop.

‘HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES’

A Garden Grove Community Theatre production of Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy. Directed by Ray Williams. With Diana Kolchier, Mark Beaver, Cleta Cohen, Keith McCarthy, Jeff Bickel and Ilona Honeyman. Set by Ken King and Ray Williams. Lighting by Lee Shulman. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. at 12001 St. Mark St., Garden Grove, through May 12. Tickets: $5 and $6. (714) 897-5122.