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Rafts and Dreams

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Rafts and Dreams
Written byRobert Holman
Characters
  • Neil Bell
  • Hetty
  • Leo
  • Jo
  • Alex
  • Woman
Date premieredOctober 4, 1990 (1990-10-04)
Place premieredRoyal Court Theatre Upstairs, London
Original languageEnglish
Subjectchild abuse, rising sea levels
SettingLondon, a raft at sea, an iceberg, Africa[1]

Rafts and Dreams is a play by English playwright Robert Holman that was first performed in 1990, and published in 1991.[1]

Plot

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Beginning as a seeming domestic drama,[2] Rafts and Dreams shows the relationship between obsessive-compulsive mysophobe Hetty and her soldier husband Leo, and their neighbour Neil – a victim of childhood sexual abuse who is now studying to be a doctor. However, when Leo and Neil remove a tree stump from Leo's garden they find an underground lake under all London which expands to flood the entire world. Leo makes a raft from their living room and as they float they meet the wife of the man who abused Neil.

Productions

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Rafts and Dreams was first presented at the Royal Court Theatre in 1990. The production was directed by John Dove and the cast was:

Neil Bell – Jonathan Cullen
Hetty – Adie Allen
Leo – Jason Watkins
Jo – Natasha Pyne
Alex – Ilan Ostrove
Woman – Maureen Hibbert

In 2003 the play was revived at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in a production directed by Tim Stark.[3]

Critical reception

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“While digging up the roots of a tree in the garden, Neil, Leo and Hetty uncover a vast underground lake which floods away the world. With Leo at the tiller of his sawn-away living room, the trio begin a voyage over the earth's watery surface … Rafts and Dreams is a surrealist fantasy at its most thought-provoking, a play whose best bits manage (in both senses) to work like a dream.” – Paul Taylor, The Independent.[citation needed]

Encore Theatre Magazine described the play as “one of the great post-war British plays.”[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Holman, Robert (1991). Rafts and Dreams & Outside the Whale. London: Methuen. ISBN 9780413655707.
  2. ^ Gardner, Lyn (30 September 2003). "'Are my plays any good? I haven't a clue'". The Guardian. Lyn Gardner interviews Robert Holman.
  3. ^ Gardner, Lyn (8 October 2003). "Across Oka/Rafts and Dreams". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "Encore Heroes". Encore Theatre Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2015.

Further reading

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  • London Theatre Record, Volume 10, Issues 14-26
  • Taylor, Paul (22 October 2011). "Theatre: And the outlook is unsettled". The Independent. Holman's 1990 Royal Court play Rafts and Dreams is, in my view, one of the most underrated dramas of the decade.
  • Anderson, Lee (18 November 2014). "Discovering Robert Holman". Exeunt Magazine. Rafts and Dreams is discussed in the context of Holman's other plays.