LINDSAY Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis have done it, so has Kevin Spacey with a cat, so now its time for the actors of Bolton little Theatre to give it a go.

The company will be opening their next season with a play which sees two bickering parents mysteriously swap bodies in If I Were You.

One of award-winning playwright Alan Ayckbourn’s most critically acclaimed plays, not only will it open the new season for the theatre but is also setting one of the biggest acting challenges so far for its cast.

The plot follows Mal and Jill who inexplicably wake up in each other’s bodies and are forced to to experience their respective lives from the other’s perspective.

Dan Clynes, who plays Mal, said: “It’s certainly been a challenge trying to observe Emma’s characteristics and model them without it looking farcical.”

Emma Morris, playing Jill agrees. She added: “There’s a whole different way of moving about the stage as a man I’ve had to learn.

“Ayckbourn himself admitted that the challenge the roles present to an actor and actress truthfully and convincingly to play each other, without hint of caricature, is considerable.”

Mal is a manager of a home-fittings store and his marriage to Jill, who feels unfulfilled and frustrated, is on the rocks.

A far from ideal husband, father or manager, Mal’s world falls apart when he finds himself in Jill’s body, while she insists they must maintain a façade – which proves harder than they realised since their son is soon confused by his parents’ strange behaviour.

The ensuing scenes see them making a real insight into each other’s lives and the lives of their children.

“Ayckbourn has played with this device of swapping bodies before and intriguingly never explains why or how the transformation happens,” said director Sam Cooper.

“He just asks the audience to accept it and follow the consequences – which they seem happy to do.”

If I Were You runs from Monday, September 12, to Saturday, September 17 at the theatre on Hanover Street.

To book tickets call the box office on 01204 524469 or book online at www.boltonlittletheatre.co.uk.