JOHN and Jane Godber, husband and wife and fellow playwrights, know this play intimately.

Their first trip abroad together inspired it, and they performed the original production in 1992, since when they have never appeared side by side on stage…until now.

They could find several reasons to justify what might seem a self-indulgent decision, but there is no need.

April In Paris is one of John’s best works, worthy of a revival at the new Hull Truck; Jane should get out more as an actress; and if you saw big John take over a role in the all-female Shakers at York Arts Centre in the distant but still not dimmed past, then you will know he is not fazed by the footlights.

More to the point, he and Jane are now of an age ideally suited to playing unemployed Hull builder Al and his wife Bet, who seeks to spark up their childless, stymied marriage by entering competitions for the chance of escape.

Al busies himself making cups of tea for something to do in between painting the same industrial scene over and again in a never-ending series of not-very-good pictures.

“Although it was written nearly 20 years ago, it sounds like it could have been written last week,” noted John, when deciding to mount the production, and how right he is. The building industry is shedding jobs once more and slumbering in cold storage, waiting for better days.

Everything is grey in Al and Bet’s world – their clothes, the clock, the floor tiles, the table cloth, Al’s paintings: a simple but effective design idea that is taken further this time, as the couple continue to wear grey throughout, in contrast to past productions.

Their gills are grey too, from sickness, as they travel by ferry from Hull, after Bet wins a competition for a romantic weekend away. Their status as the virgin English abroad is emphasised by their neutral colours contrasting with the glorious burst of bright lights upon their arrival in a Paris represented by a montage of the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge.

April In Paris is a superb piece of storytelling theatre – that is where the real colour lies – but it is also Godber’s finest study of love and marriage, as Al and Bet tentatively rekindle long-dormant feelings and find words that have long escaped them.

Having a real-life husband and wife play the couple adds a certain frisson, and John’s directing skills, in tandem with guest co-director Neil Sissons, ensure the little details surpass recent touring productions.

The moment when John sets an overhead lamp in motion to evoke a storm is a typically clever touch.

Great play, vintage production, very timely… now, can we please stop waiting for Godber’s next two-hander? Over to you, John.

April In Paris, Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, until March 27. Box office: 01482 325012.