Stage Plays by Ian Hornby

To Sleep, Perchance
Play - single set - 3m 3f

Synopsis
This play was written for a group of 6 girls who, at the time, were Year 12 Speech and Drama students in South Africa. They had searched the catalogues and the Internet for a play for six girls based, roughly, on an insomnia theme, but could find nothing, so this was the result.

It involves six young women at a summer camp. Anna has a deep-rooted personal anguish which she eventually decides to share with Brenda. Their chat attracts girls from other rooms and each explores her own real or imaginary problems, until Anna realises she's not alone in the world.

Ideally suited for some disabled actresses.

Author's notes
I still wonder how the girls found me, so far away. From the most basic of requirements this play evolved. It was written to give the actresses a chance to show their acting skills, but also to entertain and challenge their audience to think about the subject. The last time I heard from them they had achieved extremely good marks for their work, so I'll allow myself to take a little credit. Sadly, once they graduated, they didn't get in touch again, so I have no idea of their final marks.

As a piece of trivia, it's quite amazing how few people realise the characters in the working version were simply called A to F.