Vice Versa; Or, a Lesson to Fathers

A Victorian comedy that invented the body-swap premise over a century before Hollywood discovered it. Paul Bultitude, a pompous City businessman, sneers at his son's dread of returning to Dr. Grimstone's brutal boarding school: surely the boy would rather swap places? When Dick gets his hands on a magic stone from an uncle in India, he takes his father at his word. Now Paul must face the cane and Latin primers while Dick inherits daddy's office and social obligations. The comedy cuts both ways: the father discovers what fear feels like in a schoolboy's skin, while the son stumbles through adult life with alarming confidence. Anstey's satire is sharp but warm, skewering Victorian education, class rigidity, and the permanent misunderstanding between generations. The ending restores order, but something has shifted: they've walked in each other's shoes, and the world looks different from the other side. Funny, ingenious, and surprisingly moving.