Convincingly act as estranged couples do (4,1,4)

'convincingly act' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'estranged couples do' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'estranged' could be 'apart' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'apart' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'live' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?