The genius of Jeremy Tow was evident Thursday night as Western Canada Theatre rolled out its new season, one with the WCTs artistic producer’s fingerprints all over it.

Mounting Sexy Laundry in the Pavilion Theatre was a wise decision, one Tow made deliberately when he was preparing the season, taking advantage of the intimacy of the smaller setting and focusing on two incredible actors in the comedy by Michele Riml.

An audience of about 150 sat on chairs set up in a horseshoe configuration, looked down on a hotel-room scene and laughed throughout the two hours as Alice and Henry tried to recapture the zest that, after 25 years of marriage, has vanished.

A floundering marriage isn’t usually food for frivolity but, in the capable acting hands of Janet Michael and Gerry Mackay, it is the source of incredible laughter as Alice tries to explain that she wants the excitement back, while Henry bemoans his life is nothing more than following Alice’s orders.

“Here, write out the script so I know what I’m supposed to say,” he tells his wife at one point.

How many of us have heard similar words come out of our spouse’s mouths at some time during an argument?

“You don’t dance,” Alice says at one point, as if that is the reason she is so dissatisfied.

As a non-dancing spouse, I feel for Henry when he replies he just doesn’t do it.

Unlike my husband, who has always understood these feet aren’t ever about to do more than propel me forward, Alice sees this inability as yet another reason for her unhappiness.

It would be easy to dislike Alice as she rants and cajoles, all the while using Sex for Dummies as her guide, but Michael is just too gifted an actress to let that happen.

I feel for her, too, as she tries aromatherapy, massage, fantasies and even black leather and a whip in attempts to save her marriage.

And Mackay is the perfect husband, truly in love with his wife, but at the comfortable stage in the relationship that Alice didn’t seem to understand. He’s as funny as Michael and matches her confusion word for word as the couple tries to figure out why Alice is so sad.

You simply couldn’t ask for a better opener to what will undoubtedly be a great WCT season.

Sexy Laundry, directed by the equally gifted Andrew McIlroy, continues to Oct. 17. Tickets are $19 and are available at the Kamloops Live! Box office, 250-374-5483 or online at kamloopslive.com.