Regular readers of this column will know that my wife works in theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company to be exact (you should see our flat – one wall is DVDs, the opposite is play scripts; with copies of Empire and The Stage strewn across the front room).

Currently playing at their theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon is Doctor Who himself, David Tennant, in Richard II.

The play has signalled two kinds of phenomena on the company – one is slightly unhinged Whovians wandering the town for a glimpse of their idol, the second is their first live screening in cinemas across Europe. The first showings of Richard II generated over £1m for the company, and signalled a new part of the cinema experience – watching plays at a cinema.

It’s one of those rare events where both my passion and that of Mrs Luxford’s have crossed over. She is, by most standards, a fairly knowledgeable film geek in her own right, but I must confess my theatre experience prior to meeting her was minimal (a few West End shows over the years).

Since we’ve met, however, we’ve done our best to educate each other on the finer points of our respective art forms – I’ve shown her the films I think she ‘has’ to see, and in turn I’ve been taken to musicals, one man plays, comedies, experimental dance, and ‘immersive’ productions (turning up in warehouses in London while a play unfolds around you).

Most of the time it’s a fairly fruitful endeavour – I believe I’ve seen enough to write with some authority on various things to do with the stage (although by no means an expert opinion), and Lauren can occasionally get the scoop on new releases by coming with me to press screenings. Every so often, however, a disagreement breaks out between us. Mainly it is over whether an actor is a ‘movie actor’ or a ‘stage actor’– for example, I maintain that the reason Ralph Fiennes’ The Tempest broke theatre box office records was because to a whole new generation of fans he’s Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies, whereas she insists his pedigree as a stage actor was why it was so successful (I know, as arguments go it’s hardly War of The Roses).

Screenings of plays in cinemas, however, is something we can both agree on. I love the fact that it opens up a whole new avenue for cinemas big and small to attract new customers, while she loves the fact that new productions of plays are now more accessible to everyone, and might even encourage them to go and see theatre ‘in the flesh’, as it were.

So, for this week at least, our arty debates have been put aside.

Much to my disdain she’s still not a fan of Lost In Translation, and that immersive play left me more confused than entertained, but as we headed down the (cinema) aisle to see Mr Tennant in action, both members of the Luxford household, for one night at least, got what they wanted.