After 25 years of marriage, Alice and Henry have hit the dreaded marital doldrums.
Alice is no longer content to watch TV with her hubby night after night, and decides to try to put some sizzle back into their tepid relationship, in Central Alberta Theatre’s season-opening production of Sexy Laundry, by Michele Riml.
The play opens on Friday, Oct. 7, at the new City Centre Stage in downtown Red Deer.
Armed with a newly purchased copy of Sex for Dummies, Alice books a romantic weekend for two at a posh new hotel.
Henry is an engineer who’s pretty much satisfied with the status quo. He isn’t sure what to make of his wife’s efforts to put some zing back into their marriage.
“He’s very reluctant to go,” said director Sharon-Eve Lang, who added that Henry is mostly preoccupied with the $300-a-night cost of the hotel room.
As a marriage veteran herself — Lang had a 13-year first marriage and is in the 32nd year of her second one — she can’t believe how close to home this Canadian comedy hits. “Almost every line in this show someone in the audience has said to their significant other,” said Lang.
Among the more recognizable are: “Well, if you did it right the first time, I wouldn’t have to tell you again” (Alice) and, “It’s not very relaxing, giving somebody else a massage” (Henry).
“It’s so funny because everybody can relate to it,” said Lang.
Alice wants to cuddle. And Henry doesn’t mind — as long as it doesn’t interrupt his favourite television shows.
When the subject turns to leather and lace sex fantasies, Henry is mortified. Just as Alice is trying to get romantic, he blurts out, “I thought we just came here to get laid.”
Henry isn’t particularly sentimental, said Lang. Yet, by the end of the play, she believes this comedy about a warts-and-all, long-term relationship will leave many audience members in tears because it rings so true.
The real reason middle-aged Alice needs more attention from her spouse is that she’s becoming unhappy with herself, said Lang.
While Alice pictures herself as a Charlie’s Angel, whenever she looks in the mirror, she feels more like their chubby agent, Bosley.
Henry doesn’t understand her insecurity because he likes his wife just the way she is, added the director, who had a lot of fun with the one-act play’s two actors during rehearsals.
Neither Kathy Fradette, as Alice, nor Ron Vocke, as Henry, have had a lot of stage experience, but both are “naturals,” said Lang.
The only slight hitch in bringing this 90-minute production to a CAT venue was being able to afford the royalties.
Since Sexy Laundry is still in high demand by professional theatre groups, there’s no reduced royalty rate set yet for community theatres. But Lang said a local communications company was nice enough to make a donation so CAT could stage the play.
Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. shows (2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees) are $18 for adults ($15 students/seniors) from Ticket Central, 403-347-0800. Sexy Laundry runs to Oct. 16.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com
— copyright Red Deer Advocate