Why Men Cheat is an original comedy written by Galway man Peadar de Burca and is based on over 100 interviews he carried out with men and women all over the country last year.

It attempts to explain why Irishmen cheat on their wives and offers reasons as bizarre as a Cavan man wanting to be like his hero, JR Ewing.

"We are a small theatre company and I decided to write a play about the different anecdotes normal people across the country told me.

"I soon noticed that so many of their stories were about male infidelity and the stories just got weirder and weirder so that's where the idea for Why Men Cheat came from, " explained de Burca.

One anecdote that features in the play recalls an unfaithful Cavan husband who went from having a huge country home with his wife and kids to living in a dingy city bedsit.

When de Burca asked the Cavan man where it all went wrong and why he cheated, he replied, "I cheated because of JR Ewing. JR Ewing was the biggest star of the 1980s and he made cheating cool. He only wore his boxers to keep his ankles warm and I wanted to be like JR."

The play involves five different actors coming onto stage and telling 11 different tales of male infidelity in what de Burca describes as "somewhere between The Vagina Monologues and stand-up comedy.

"One woman, whose husband was a doctor, told me that he used to go out for a jog every evening. After noticing that his tracksuit did not stink with sweat when he returned from the jog she followed him to find him going into a strange woman's house, " explained de Burca "The wife knocked on the door and demanded to get in to look for her husband. After bursting through the door and checking all the rooms she found her husband buck naked with his bottom against the lagging jacket in the hot press. She was shocked when her husband slowly said to her 'I am not here. Go home. You are imagining what you are seeing.'" De Burca is eager to point out that his play is not all humourous anecdotes and it does contain some very touching stories of the emotional pain caused by break-ups after men cheat on their wives.

Why Men Cheat has been staged in Galway and some other venues across the country to date but it is hoped that its appearance at the Dublin Fringe Festival will catapult the play, produced by Mor Wax Productions, onto the international stage.

De Burca added, "It's not Oscar Wilde, but we are getting standing ovations with the play so far so hopefully it will be as successful at the Andrew's Lane Theatre during the Dublin Fringe Festival next month."