←Recommendations of Dreamboat

Dreamboat is a sugary, laugh-out-loud romp through 1950s Southern teen dreams. Two sisters scheme, swoon, and banter their way toward prom night, with dialogue so sharp and charming it practically twirls off the page.

Daniel Emlyn-Jones has captured the true essence of 1950s Southern Belle dialogue! ELLIE GRACE and BETTY SUE are fantastic characters that practically jumped off the page as I read (and laughed)! DREAMBOAT is an absolute delight.

06.20.25 - I dare you not to laugh at this sweet-as-molasses-on-a-hot-summer-day treat from Daniel Emlyn-Jones. This two-hander swings for the fences with Southern charm and enough down-home bon mots to choke a gator. The wordplay alone is enough to entice an audience, but add in comic performances from a couple of actresses willing to embrace their inner Blanche Devereaux (the inspiration, I'm told) and you have an absolute hoot of a play.

For anyone in search of a two-hander for a pair of young actresses, I can't recommend Dreamboat by Daniel Emlyn-Jones highly enough! Hilarious!

I have personal knowledge that Daniel Emlyn-Jones' experience with the American Deep South is based on his love of Blanche Devereuax ("The Golden Girls") and vacations in Miami, but his affection for the region and its quirks shows in this lovely confection. The story is funny and with as many twists and turns as a kudzu vine and the sweet scent of magnolia blooms. It's no wonder it took the prize, and its reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference Fringe was a gem.

Having grown up in the Deep South, I can attest to the fact that these characters are real and the dialogue is only slightly exaggerated for full comic effect. I wasn’t prepared for the twist at the end, but it still made me hopeful that these sisters would get their dreamboats after all. I would love to watch this all unfold with a laughing audience. Hilarious from start to finish!

An absolute delight! I'm not sure there is anything more relatable than youthful desire, but leave it to Emlyn-Jones to turn it all over and show us the strict weirdness of wanting. Hilarious throughout, suffused with this playwright's trademark wit. Also, Robby Rob Bob Junior is one of the best names ever devised.

I will never not think of this play whenever I hear the word "Dreamboat." Daniel Emlyn-Jones captures all of the silly quirks of the American South--purple prose, flowery metaphors, and all!--and creates a hilarious conversation that echoes so many great comedies of this mode. Flowing throughout the play is a longing to find someone, that Dreamboat, but ultimately and hilariously, the play asks what the cost of seeing our dreams coming true really is. A fun, fun play.

This play is very funny, very entertaining. These characters are such clearly defined archetypes of southern belles who are very endearing in their simplicity. The dialogue is musical with the rhythmic flow of their dialect (you can't read this without hearing the southern drawl). The dialogue is also spiked with a lot of suggestive innuendo that complements the innocence of the characters and creates some real laugh-out-loud moments.

I do declare, this here is a very funny short play by one Daniel Emlyn-Jones. The use of the extended simile especially just had me plumb gigglin' the whole time. I'm sure this is gonna entertain any audience that has the pleasure and privilege of seein' it.

(OK, apologies for the brief gimmick, but you just get caught up in it when Emlyn-Jones makes use of the accent and setting for humor's sake. Indeed a very funny piece here. Hope you get a chance to see it at some point! Enjoyable read!)