THE diversity of relationships between married men and women was well demonstrated during Conquest Theatre's latest production.

In staging Mixed Doubles, Conquest Production actors convincingly portray seven marriages during short pieces written by authors including Fay Weldon and Harold Pinter.

Sarah Handley and Hugh Farey are particularly good in two different scenarios: in Alan Ayckbourn's Countdown they play a couple whose inability to communicate with each other has led to bitterness and resentment. During the gaps in their conversation, the characters' express their inner thoughts directly to the audience making what they don't say to each other desperately sad and poignant.

During Norma by Alun Owen, Sarah Handley is a married woman who is ending an exciting affair to return to the stability of her marriage. In breaking it off, it becomes clear how selfish she has been in dabbling with the affections of another man, played by Farey, who has fallen for her.

Unlike the duologues, convincingly and sympathetically acted throughout, seven linking monologues by George Melly were less well presented and harder to comprehend.

Ally Hardy