By LOUIS B. HOBSON, CALGARY SUN

Last Updated: 30th January 2010, 9:35pm

Calgary actor Brian Jensen admits he’s had to fix the odd thing like vacuum cleaners, toasters and relationships.

Sometimes the mending went well, but sometimes the appliance and the relationship had to be replaced.

“The awful realization is that if the relationship has ended it’s too late to try fixing it even thought that’s what we sometimes try to do.

“Then it’s a case of what happens after happily-ever-after collapses,” says Jensen whose had to deal with “those lingering feelings you have for the person you’re no longer with.”

What has Jensen mulling over those long ago broken appliances and broken relationships is his role in Lunchbox Theatre’s new comedy Mr. Fix It that opens Monday.

Jensen plays Mel, the owner of a chain of Mr. Fix It shops.

There isn’t an appliance Mel can’t fix but he’s hardly the same kind of wiz in the relationship department.

“Mel started out as an appliance repairman. He got so good he opened a shop and then two and three and then a whole chain of them.

“As his business was taking off, his marriage was crumbling.

“He had an affair which led to his wife wanting a divorce which he gave her.

“There’s a snag with the divorce papers so his ex-wife (Barbara Gates Wilson) comes to see him.”

Mr. Fix It, which was written by Calgary playwright Caroline Russell-King kicks off Lunchbox Theatre’s 35th season in Calgary.

“It’s exciting for Lunchbox to have a world premiere to help celebrate its 35th year because the company has showcased so many premieres over the decades.”

Jensen says it’s always exciting for actors to be involved in a premiere because “you have the playwright right there during the rehearsal process. You actually get to ask questions and feel you have some real input.”

He has nothing but praise for Russell-King’s script.

“Caroline says her play is a homage to Neil Simon and, like Simon’s best plays, the laughs are there but there’s a true bittersweet feeling to the story.”

“I think it all started when I played a Christmas tree in grade three. I got hooked.”

More recently, Jensen was seen as Marley’s Ghost in A Christmas Carol, and as a Great Blue Whale in The Invention of Music.

Tickets for Mr. Fix It, which is directed by Kevin McKendrick are available by calling 403-265-4292.

louis.hobson@sunmedia.com