A HUSBAND and wife who are the best of friends off stage will become the worst of enemies on it.

The married actor couple appear alongside each other in a touring play due to visit the Bolton Octagon's Bill Naughton Theatre in April.

And despite a violent confrontation between the two in the opening scene, Alex Merlin, aged 41, and wife Bella, aged 36, say married life could not be better.

Alex said: "We make sure we never take our work home with us."

The couple are part of Re:Action theatre group which is staging the play, Hit, a dark comedy about life and relationships.

And Bella can have no complaints about the treatment she receives in the play -- because she wrote it!

Alex said: "We first met 5 years ago on a production we were working on with Mark Babych (now Bolton Octagon's artistic director). We got married two years later and belong to the same company.

"We are both actors and this is the first play that Bella has written.

"In the opening scene I do have to tie her up to a chair and gag her -- but it is as she wrote it!"

He joked: "Rehearsals haven't been too bad. At least I have been getting a quiet moment or two. Bella at home is known as 'Blah!' because she has been known to speak without drawing breath."

The couple are from Birmingham but Bolton does hold good memories for Alex. "I have worked quite a lot in Bolton. My first professional job was in Cabaret in the Octagon about 10 years ago," he said.

"We hope that after we bring the play to the Octagon we will be able to take it to the Fringe and on to London.

"Touring can be a strain on a relationship but you do have to divorce work and home as much as possible -- no matter what the play."

Hit comes to Bolton from April 11 to 13. Further information from Activ8 at the Octagon on 556501.