Dramaturgy
The dramatic devices employed for humour are many, such as Teddy's ironic insensitivity in asking Giles for marital advice, when the audience can see that the problem is Teddy's affair with Giles' wife. Giles extends the irony further by suggesting the problem is lack of sex. Trish spends most of House ignoring her husband, to the extent of bemoaning his absence to guests when he is actually in the room with them. In Garden there is an innovative scene where the two characters on stage (Teddy and Lucille) expound their situations and frustrations in their respective languages, and while neither understands what the other is saying each believes the other to be a kindred spirit.
The chilling, merciless Gavin Ring-Mayne was perceived as a satirical portrait of the politician Peter Mandelson (indeed Paul Allen reports that some people worried that the portrait was too accurate), but Ayckbourn also sees elements of Jeffrey Archer in the character. Paul Allen has observed that Ayckbourn's range is such that he has no need to limit himself to the lampooning of just one political figure.
Read more about this topic: House & Garden (plays)