The previous Vince Melton/Judith Peterson collaboration was titled Blokes Don't Talk

For the new collection, Couples Don't Talk, Peterson - a social worker for the past quarter-century as well as a theatre practitioner - has taken on a larger role, writing three of the five short plays, thematically in similar vein. Peterson says, "We had an idea - it was about how relationships affected people."

She says of the new collection, "Vince is an observer, he looks at what's going on ... Because I'm a social worker, I have a litttle bit of a different look at things. I see how relationships can affect people in a different way."

She says in contrast to Melton's more lighter, observational point of view, "I get right in there ... I'm that little bit more intense."

The plays all have a different slant on how the audience can see that the relationship is "wrong" and has affected people in some way.

In With Regrets, Brian (played by Maurice Downing) and Andria (Peterson, who stepped in when one of the actors fell sick) have known each other for 20 years but have never spoken of their love for each other. A Moment deals with Frances (Fiona Robinson) and Dan (Nigel Palfreman), who are a couple but who aren't really happy. Both plays, she says, have twists at the end.

And in the "pretty intense" The Chocolate Game, four women talk about how relationships have affected them.

Those are Peterson's plays: Melton's contributions are You Are So Beautiful, about an an older couple having communication problems, and I'm Sorry, in which a writer hasn't written anything for the past 10 years. Melton says they deal with "men struggling to find their way and just not getting what they should do to keep their relationship going".

The music of Canberra composer Frank Zappia will be used in the show including an original song with lyrics by Peterson. She says, "A percentage of ticket sales will be given to the good work of Menslink."

Peterson would like to follow up with a show called Parents Don't Talk. Really, the possibilities on the theme are almost endless.