Couple performs Norm Foster's Here on the Flight Path in Sudbury

When they became roommates when they met at Stratford, Jamie Williams and Melanie Janzen never expected they'd be spending their lives together both on and off the stage.

The pair ended up dating and eventually getting married. Now, they perform on stage together.

"I mean I don't think couples necessarily know how that experience is going to be," Janzen said.

"We've done it enough times now to to realize that it's a very enjoyable process. I think we challenge each other in a really great way and because we know each other well you can't get away with bad work."

Williams and Janzen are the lead actors in the Sudbury Theatre Centre's production of Here on the Flight Path, by Norm Foster. It's currently on stage until Feb. 23.

"A basic overview is we have John Cummings who's been divorced for the last three and a half years and has found himself in the Aurora Terrace Apartments and over the course of those years, several different people have moved in next door," Williams said.

"Basically it's a story about how those different people have affected his life.

But spending your personal and professional time together doesn't come without its challenges.

"I think we've both had difficulty when we've had to see each other be intimate with other partners that is for me that's challenging," Janzen said.

"I think my head has spun around a few times."

Williams says it's important for both not to take their work home at the end of the day.

"We do our work on our own and or away from the theater and we use the rehearsal time to work together," he said.

'Loveable' characters

"You know I think one of the real benefits is that because we are intimate in our real life there's a shortcut in terms of negotiating the space physically and emotionally so we can reach things a lot more quickly and ultimately we trust each other a lot and that pays off in spades when we're on the stage."

As for this production, this is the third time the couple has performed this show.

Janzen says it's one of her favourites.

"As is true of most of his plays if not all of his work, there's a real relatability," she said.

"You care about these people. They're lovable. You can see yourself in them. So when things happen to them you feel for them."