The play has six characters, two men and two women of middle age and a young
couple.
The basic set is a modern lounge, with some scenes in a meeting room, which could be
anywhere, even in the same house if necessary.
The story is of a middle aged, unfit man who volunteers to run a marathon in place of
his injured son. He is motivated by a female member of the Friends of the Common
group, to which he also belongs, who he wishes to impress. To everyone’s surprise, he
finishes the race and in a decent time too. However, it transpires he was seen catching
a bus partway round and when the news hits the fan (courtesy of his journalist daughter
in law), he not only has to fork out all the sponsorship money himself but ends up losing
his would-be girlfriend too – truly a cautionary tale.