Husband and wife take centre stage to open theatre season

HUSBAND and wife playwrights John and Jane Godber are to perform on stage together next month for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The couple, who won two Baftas as co-writers, will act together for only the third time in Hull Truck Theatre’s production of April in Paris.

Mr Godber, the third most performed playwright in the English language, said: “We thought long and hard about it, but given that we are in the new theatre and it is such a great play, we thought we should have a go.

“Jane and I saw the play performed in Swanland Village Hall last year and that prompted us to do it ourselves.”

He added: “The play is about an unemployed builder and his wife in a dysfunctional, childless marriage who win a holiday to Paris for one night. Although it was written nearly 20 years ago, it sounds like it could have been written last week.”

April in Paris was first performed in 1992 by the Godbers as part of Hull Festival.

Two years later it transferred to the West End and was performed by Gary Olsen and Maria Freidman, winning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Comedy of the Year.

The play follows Al and Bet as they leave their house in Hull and travel to Paris courtesy of Bella magazine. They see the sights and sample new food and art, but learn as much about each other and their marriage as about France.

April in Paris is the first play in the theatre’s spring and summer season and will run from March 4 to 27.

Other highlights include Mr Godber directing an adaptation of the classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Cooking With Elvis, and Tommy Cooper tribute Jus’ Like That.

The theatre’s new 15m home in Ferensway has won a series of awards for architecture and has been shortlisted in the annual Civic Trust Awards.