It is about an unhappy married couple who are given the chance to understand each other by discovering, quite literally, what they would do "if I were you," in the same manner as the novel Turnabout by Thorne Smith.
As a result, directorship of Intimate Exchanges passed to Tim Luscombe,[2] and the production of Woman in Mind was eventually dropped altogether.
Like the setting used in Bedroom Farce and Private Fears in Public Places, scene changes are controlled by switching the lighting from one area of the stage to the other.
However, in a setting unique to this play, the whole stage is also used to represent the showroom floor at Mal's place of work.
At work, Mal faces a number of problems involving customers and staff and handles them aggressively.
Chrissie talks of her marriage in a far less positive light than her husband gave earlier, wondering if she has gone frigid after giving birth.
After school, Sam's news that he got the part he wanted (in spite of no signed form) is little cheer to Jill.
She also defuses the problems that Mal created the previous day, although going a little over the top in dealing with a stressed member of staff.
When Sam returns home, he reads out a passage to Mal (as Francis Flute playing Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream), almost moving him to tears.
When he learns the real reason Sam acts – that he has a crush on his female drama teacher – Mal proudly says "That's my boy!"
The other three roles were reprised, apart from the first three weeks where Terence Booth played Mal, temporarily replacing John Branwell, who was taken ill.[1][6] In 2010, Bill Kenwright mounted a new production of If I Were You, directed by Joe Harmston and starring original cast member Liza Goddard.
In many of the reviews, attention was shared between the play itself and Alan Ayckbourn's decision to return to the theatre following his stroke.
[12] The only major review with a negative slant came from Alfred Hickling of The Guardian, who was critical over the lack of explanation for the body-swapping.