Play brings duality of marriage to life

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, DEAR: Barry (John Mabey) and Gen (Bronwyn Steffert) reminisce over a box of chocolates on their 21st wedding anniversary in Limelight Theatre's production of Conjugal Rites. PHOTO/ERIN KAVANAGH-HALL WTA020514EKHCONJUGAL02

If a couple makes it past their 20th wedding anniversary - a rarity in this day and age - it's a cause for celebration and much champagne and canoodling.

But for middle-aged professionals Barry and Gen, their anniversary is just another excuse to moan about the kids, the house and who earns more money.

This is the story of Conjugal Rites, a sardonic take on middle-class navel gazing by Roger Hall, brought to life at Carterton Events Centre by Limelight Theatre Company.

Matrimony and all its wonders is common comic fodder these days, but, of all the marriage-related dramedies I've seen, Hall's is probably the most hilariously, poignantly, and at times uncomfortably real. In fact, I spied bits of my own marriage in there.

At the start of Conjugal Rites, directed by Margaret Jesson, Barry (John Mabey) and Gen (Bronwyn Steffert) wake up on their 21st anniversary. They exchange gifts and reminisce on days gone by. Suddenly, the bedroom needs doing up.

Their daughter's boy-crazy, and their son won't do his homework. Gen's father needs to go into a home, the dog needs a walk, Barry keeps flushing the toilet at inopportune moments and Gen keeps buying him the wrong underwear.

The squabbles begin, and from then on it's all drama. And hilarity.

The actors did an excellent job of carrying the story, and were scarily believable as the warring couple.

Mabey played Barry, the curmudgeonly, penny-pinching but affable husband, with plenty of panache.

With his Mick Jagger impressions, keeping the peace with a sock puppet, and his take on the "man flu", he made the character lovable despite his flaws.

Steffert was perfect as Gen, the over-worked lawyer, turning on her husband with an acid tongue, while waspishly bemoaning the state of the world.

At first, I found myself rooting for Barry - Gen I found harder to sympathise with. However, the tables turn when certain truths begin to out.

In the second half, I began wishing I could ring their necks for their constant sniping and needling.

But in amongst all the tension there were genial moments between the two - sharing chocolates in bed, pinching the papers from under each other's noses and engaging in pillow fights - which made the marital woes easier to bear.

Apart from some fluffed lines and the first act dragging slightly, Limelight's Conjugal Rites was a thoroughly enjoyable journey through a modern marriage, with plenty of biting wit, some well-timed tender moments, and just a bit of bawdiness. Speaking of which, there is a simulated sex scene. Which is highly entertaining, but maybe not so appropriate for the young ones.