Stage Plays by Ian Hornby

Dream, Lover!
Comedy - single set - 2m 5f

Synopsis
Steve's and Janet's marriage has gone a little stale. Steve is out of work and Janet works all hours trying to support them. To add a bit of spice to his life Steve spends long hours dreaming about Claire, a girl who satisfies his every fantasy but unfortunately for Steve exists only in his (very visible) imagination. Janet organises a lingerie party to make some spare cash. Imagine Steve's surprise when one of the guests - Maxine - looks exactly like Claire, even though she doesn't quite behave like her. Nevertheless Steve is in love. Janet leaves and Steve and Maxine move in together. Maxine tries - she really does - to return Steve's devotion but Steve is reaching for the impossible. In desperation Steve imagines Claire again, except that his imaginary Claire turns into Maxine before his eyes and is lost to him forever. The play closes with Steve wishing once again for that which he can no longer have - Janet. 
It is left to the director as to whether to include Claire and Maxine as the same actress in the cast list. More surprise can be obtained if the audience is led to believe that two different actresses are involved, perhaps using an anagram of the actress's name in the programme.

Author's notes
"Dream, Lover" - while declared as a comedy, has a sad edge to it.

It's based around a man's dissatisfaction with his lot, to the extent he loses himself to fantasies with the aid of pulp novels. Except we see his fantasy woman come to life. When he actually meets the physical embodiment of her, she's nothing like the woman he dreamed of. The sad twist in the end is that he has given up everything he had for the things he thought he wanted... and ended up with neither.