Hall's midlife marriage comedy stands test of time

Tim Bartlett hung out with Big Ted, Jemima and Humpty Dumpty when he last lived in Dunedin.

The former Play School presenter is back this week with a decidedly more adult role.

Conjugal Rites by playwright Roger Hall tells the story of marriage in a midlife marinade.

Bartlett performed in the premiere season of director Campbell Thomas' original Conjugal Rites, at the Fortune Theatre in 1990.

"It's nice, and a real privilege as an actor, to be able to go back into a script and do it again," he said, during a rehearsal this week.

"I was a little young to be playing the part then and, to tell the truth, I'm pushing the other side now," he chuckled.

"It's strange to go back. There's a real hint of nostalgia.

Having had 20 years more of life has made it mean much more to me.

Hopefully, I can bring that out a bit more, by putting my personal experience in the show."

Bartlett is no stranger to the Fortune, appearing in Billy Bishop Goes to War, The Share Club, After the Crash, The Sex Fiend and Weed.

Other credits include playing Bernie Leach in Shortland Street and film appearances as Gussy Dymock in An Angel at my Table and Jimmy Dickson in the Aramoana tragedy film, Out of the Blue.

He left Dunedin in 1991 and is now based in Christchurch, where he regularly appears at the Court Theatre.

"It's also been lovely coming back to the Fortune and seeing all the people here again who have kept it going.

"To have professional theatre here in Dunedin is vital, really.

"It's part of the health of a cosmopolitan city.

"A resource like this is precious for a city like Dunedin.

"This theatre completes you."

Conjugal Rites looks into the world of Barry (Bartlett) and Gen (Donogh Rees), who are celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary.

It is a time of teenage children, ageing parents, sagging bodies, changing priorities and disillusionment with work.

"It's still as relevant a play as ever.

"The core of the story is as true as it ever was," Bartlett said.

"Two people reaching some land of crisis when relationships become humdrum and stale and then you realise what they've got is precious.

"As a portrait of a marriage it's very true.

The comedy is as fresh as paint.

"Roger Hall plays are always very contemporary and he's writing for the moment.

"The general mores and tone of time is his real talent."

Rees appeared as Judy Brownlee in Shortland Street and television series Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Fallout, Xena and Hercules, as well as starring roles in New Zealand feature films Constance and Crush.

Conjugal Rites director Conrad Newport is also back on familiar ground, after directing the world premiere of Roger and Pip Hall's Who Needs Sleep Anyway?, commissioned to celebrate the centenary of Plunket, at the Fortune in 2007.

"It's the same concept as the original Conjugal Rites.

There's definitely a nod to the production of 20 years ago," Newport says.

"This one is a bit more contemporary, but it's still set in 1989, when it was written.

"Technology has changed so much since then.

"For example, there's quite a bit of telephones ringing in the play, whereas a lot of families would be texting and emailing and things these days.

"But the joys and problems of marriage don't change."

Newport's production of the new Dave Armstrong play, Le Sud, will be seen in the Otago Festival of the Arts in October.

• See it
Conjugal Rites opens at the Fortune Theatre tomorrow and runs until March 13.

The production will then tour Otago and Southland from March 16 to 24.