Rafts and Dreams
# Rafts and Dreams

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

## Plot

Beginning as a seeming domestic drama, 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

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.

## Critical reception

   “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.

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

