Stage Plays by Ian Hornby

Be Careful Who You Wish For
Farcical Comedy - single set - 4m 3f

Synopsis
Jack and Mark have come to the pub to while away the rest of the day watching the football on TV.

Before it starts they are chatting about how easy life is for women and utter the age-old comment "I wish I could be a woman for a day". All too soon, Jack becomes a woman, yet he's still here too, facing his new, feminine alter-ego and feeling exactly what she does.

But how does he explain away this new and attractive woman in his life to his friends and long-suffering girlfriend Lisa? More to the point, how does he get rid of her so life can go back to its previous normality? After all, a woman who dresses to kill, knows exactly how to get a man going, likes beer and is an authority of football is very popular with the regulars!

(Other non-speaking parts for pub guests, if desired.).

Author's notes
The idea of a gender reversal comedy has been done and redone, often to very good effect, as in Alan Ayckbourn's  If I Were You, which I can thoroughly recommend to anyone. However, I don't think I've ever seen it done where the person and his opposite sex alter-ego actually meet each other, which is the basis of this farce. On the face of it, it's simple comedy, but if you look at the psychology involved were such a meeting possible, it can get very interesting. Jack has created his own fantasy woman - so he's bound to fancy her. But he's fancying himself. And his best mate, wowed by the charms of such an attractive newcomer, fancies her too, but is he really saying he fancies Jack?

Note that there is no need to have similar looking actors for Jack and Jackie.