“During the last few years, we’ve been looking for counter-programming during the holidays,” Round House Theatre Artistic Director Ryan Rilette told me when we chatted over Zoom — prompting me to recall the company’s wild new musical last December, A Hanukkah Carol.
This year, he said, “we were looking for a nontraditional family story, a comedy.” What they found was Rules for Living, a British farce about the rules we adopt to survive the annual ritual of family dinners, which Rilette stumbled upon while doing research: “We read it. And we loved it.”
The play by Sam Holcroft was a great hit when it debuted at the National Theatre in London in 2015 and toured the UK in 2017. The U.S. version, Americanized by Holcroft and now having its U.S. premiere, is, he joked, “an anti-Dickens antidote to A Christmas Carol.”
The play, directed by Rilette, is emphatically “not your normal dysfunctional family at Christmas. It’s about the rules and coping mechanisms we all use in order to make up for our insecurities.”
Signs are projected on a screen above the actors. They pop up periodically, dictating the self-administered rules of which the characters are unaware.
For instance, one reads, “Matthew is not aware that he has to sit down whenever he tells a lie, but we in the audience know it. We know he’s lying, he knows he’s lying, but he doesn’t know that we know.”
Similarly, “Carey must always stand to tell a joke. It becomes a joke to the audience, but Carey doesn’t know it.
“We all have rules for living that make up for our negative beliefs, but we are not aware of them. It’s a very multi-dimensional play.”
The original British version was modeled on games; in fact, the entire set resembled a game board. In the current American version, the rules are the same, but the metaphorical game that is being played is charades. It’s about interpretation, and it’s very theatrical.
“We built a realistic, normal-looking set, so the behavior is natural, but still follows the characters’ self-imposed rules.”
Among the cast are real-life married couple Naomi Jacobson and John Lescault, who play married couple Deborah and Francis. “With John and Naomi,” Rilette said, “it’s like working with one person. They have years of being together, which feels like a real marriage because it is a real marriage.”
The play, he said, is “a very universal piece. It speaks to audiences now, and it will speak to audiences 20 years from now.
“Holidays are always challenging in families, since they involve having relatives over who bring with them the long-simmering tensions that have been hidden for a long time.” In Rules for Living, he said, it’s funny because “people are bickering on stage about the same subject, but their needs are different.”
Given today’s divisive political climate, Rilette believes Rules for Living is a welcome digression. “At Round House, we always have plays that deal with politics. This year, so far, we’ve had book banning [Bad Books], the Constitution [What the Constitution Means to Me], and The Inheritance. We’re mixing the heavy political things with plays that are a little lighter.
“We’re trying to give people both the heavy-hitting play and the lighter plays that offer a respite.
“Producing in DC means you have to pay more attention to politics than otherwise. But it’s hard to satirize this administration since it’s a satire in itself.”
Speaking of which, I asked, “How has the administration’s incursion into the arts affected Round House?”
“From a financial point of view, it really hasn’t hurt us,” said Rilette. “Our donor base is so generous, and so anti-Trump, that when we announced that we had lost NEA funding, our donors immediately equaled or exceeded in a matter of minutes. The state of Maryland is very generous, under both Democratic and Republican leaders. Montgomery County is extraordinarily generous. So federal funding is less important.
“Round House serves both the community and the entire regional theater scene, and its audience has changed a lot over the past 14 years. In the beginning, our audience was mostly from Bethesda or the nearby area. Now, our audience is from all over — Northern Virginia, the District, and all of Montgomery County — they’re coming from everywhere.
“We have moved from being a suburban theater to now being a major fixture in the DC theater scene.”
Rules for Living, Rilette summed up, is “an incredibly funny play, done with amazingly funny actors. I think it’s a fun way to spend the holidays.”
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission.
Rules for Living plays through January 4, 2026, at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 7:30 PM, Saturday at 8:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM. Tickets start at $50 with ticket discounts available. Purchase tickets by calling 240.644.1100, ordering online, or visiting the box office.
The program is online here.
SEE ALSO:
Round House Theatre announces cast for U.S. premiere of ‘Rules for Living’ (news story, October 29, 2025)
