📑 Table of Contents

• About the Author
• Summary
• Character Sketches
• Themes
• Moral / Message
• Important Question-Answers
• Quick Revision Points

✍️ About the Author

Douglas James (as credited in this excerpt) is the playwright of the one-act play If I Were You. The play is a short, tightly written dramatic piece designed to build tension and highlight character through dialogue and action. (If your edition names a different dramatist, replace the author line with the credited name in your book.)

📖 Summary

If I Were You is a suspenseful one-act play that opens in the lonely cottage of Vincent Charles Gerrard. While Gerrard is packing to leave, an intruder — a criminal hunting refuge — sneaks in with a revolver and attempts to take Gerrard’s identity so he can escape the police.

The intruder intends to murder Gerrard and then impersonate him because Gerrard lives a mystery life: he phones orders, disappears suddenly, and is rarely seen by tradespeople. The intruder believes Gerrard’s habits will let him move freely and avoid capture. Much of the scene is a battle of wits: Gerrard calmly answers the intruder’s questions, mocks his melodrama, and cleverly tests the criminal’s assumptions.

When the intruder prepares to act, a telephone rings — giving Gerrard the chance to trick and overpower him. Gerrard disarms and locks the intruder in a cupboard, then uses the phone to call the police (or a contact) while pointing the revolver at the cupboard. Finally Gerrard reveals that he is no ordinary recluse: he has a history that explains his habits, and that his apparent vulnerability was in fact a calculated ruse. The criminal’s plan fails.

👤 Character Sketches

• Vincent Charles Gerrard – The apparent victim: cultured, witty, composed under threat. Uses language and calm to unnerve the intruder and outwit him.
• The Intruder – A flashily dressed criminal, aggressive and confident but ultimately gullible and impulsive; plans to kill Gerrard and assume his identity to escape the law.
• Off-stage characters – Tradespeople (baker, milkman, greengrocer) and the Sergeant/police are mentioned and play a role in the plot’s resolution.

🌟 Themes

• Appearance vs. Reality — Gerrard’s gentle manners hide resourcefulness and a secret past.
• Intelligence and Wit — Verbal sparring and cleverness defeat brute force.
• Deception and Identity — The intruder’s plan to assume another’s life drives the drama.
• Justice and Consequence — Crime attempts are thwarted and criminals face capture.

🎯 Moral / Message

Calm thinking, courage, and intelligence can overcome threats. People are not always what they seem — underestimating someone because of manners or solitude is dangerous.

📌 Important Question-Answers

✨ Quick Revision Points

• Title: If I Were You
• Playwright (as credited here): Douglas James
• Setting: A small, lonely cottage (interior) — telephone, table, divan, travelling bag.
• Key incident: Intruder attempts murder & identity theft — Gerrard outwits him and secures help.
• Important idea: Don’t judge by appearances; intelligence and calm can save the day.