Home, Boys, Home: New play by Dermot Bolger comes to the Civic

‘Home, Boys, Home’ is a new play by Dermot Bolger, in association with the Civic as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, coming to the Civic.

After decades abroad, Shane returns to a multicultural Ireland he barely recognises.

But he discovers surprising links: an unknown daughter, a black teenage grandson trying to define his identity, and gangland figures threatening the boy’s future.

Can he protect this grandson who is unaware of his existence and can they both find ways to feel they truly belong here?

‘Home, Boys, Home’ completes a unique trilogy that started with ‘In High Germany’ in the 1990 Dublin Theatre Festival: three standalone plays, written fifteen years apart, recounting the lives of three friends, as emigrants abroad and now as returnees to Ireland.

This week, we sat down with Dermot to discuss ‘Home, Boys, Home’, which holds its world premiere in the Civic from October 1–12, as well as his new novel ‘Hide Away’, which will be published by New Island on September 27; tickets are on sale now, so don’t miss out!

I understand that ‘Home, Boys, Home’ is being staged as the concluding part of a standalone trilogy of plays that began being staged in 1990; is there a sense of finality or melancholy that it’s all coming to an end?

I have suffered from the lifelong affliction of being an Irish soccer fan, rarely missing a home match since I watched Alan Kelly senior pick the ball out of the Irish net four times when Austria put us to the sword in Dalymount when I was a child.

I followed Ireland to Germany for Euro 88 and was fascinated to meet, among the Ireland based fans like myself, busloads of second and third generation Irish fans with London accents and numerous Irish people my own age who, back then, were forced to emigrate to find work and make new lives abroad.

When the Gate Theatre asked me to write a play for the 1990 Dublin Theatre Festival, I used my experiences of travelling to support Ireland to create three young Irish Dubliners whose dream was always to follow Ireland to a major tournament and come home like heroes with stories to tell.

In that first play, In High Germany, they watch Ireland beat England, but their celebrations are tempered by knowing that, in their new lives as migrants in Germany, Holland, and America, there will be no one with whom they can share this joy.

That play used the composition of the Irish team against Holland at Euro 88—with two black players and the bulk of the team born abroad—to represent Irishness in all its diversity, because my three characters realise that their own children will grow up with foreign accents and Irish cheekbones.

They come to feel that the diverse Irish fans on the terrace have become the only Ireland they still belong to, one that represents their families back home but also all their uncles and aunts who emigrated and were written out of history.

Generally, after I write a play, I forget the characters, but these three Dubliners lived on in my imagination, growing old at the same pace as me.

I took up their life stories again in 2010 in a play called The Parting Glass.

Now they reach retirement age in this totally standalone play, Home, Boys, Home, which sees them return to today’s Ireland, which is totally different from the ones they left in 1988.

There is a sense of finality in having finished their life stories but no sense of melancholy.

I feel relief that the task is completed.

A common thread across the trilogy is the trials and tribulations of the Irish experience; can you tell us more about that?

I hope that the plays reflect the changes in Ireland over four decades.

One character, Shane, has always been the cynical joker, using humour to hide behind his life in Holland.

Now he drops his wise-cracking mask when returning to a radically different Ireland, where he feels disconnected but discovers surprising links: an unknown daughter, a black teenage grandson trying to define his identity, and gangland figures threatening the boy’s future.

As he adjusts to being home, the composition of Ireland’s football team remains for him the true barometer of Ireland’s changing identity.

It represents a shared sense of belonging, whether you are from Cabra like him, or from Tallaght but with a different backstory, like Mipo Odubeko, or if, like Chiedoze Ogbene, you chose to wear an Irish jersey despite being born in Africa.

Have there been any differences in the production of this play compared to others that you have staged?

The first two plays were one-man shows, brilliantly performed over the years by different actors in different countries.

This time it is a three-hander, and I am really looking forward to seeing Ray Yeates, Fionnuala Gygax, and Donna Anita Nikolaisen perform in it.

Was ‘Home, Boys, Home’ or the trilogy in general inspired by anything in particular?

As the characters are the same age as me, it was inspired by my own experiences and observations of Irish life.

I understand your novel ‘Hide Away’ will be published on September 26; you have a very busy few weeks ahead! Were there challenges working on a play and a novel simultaneously?

I am essentially just a storyteller, and both mediums are just different ways to tell a story.

I love both, but drama is more exciting because if you miss the live performance, it is gone.

After ‘Hide Away’ is published and ‘Home Boys Home’ is performed, what is next for you? (I’m assuming a well-earned break!)

In 2025, I receive the ultimate accolade—a free travel pass.

Who would you like to thank for helping with the play and/or novel?

My incredible cast and crew and everyone at the Civic for making us so welcome.