McMahon goes old school with a naturalistic family drama

If the influence of institutional religion permeates the plot, Come On Home is nonetheless firmly set in post-Catholic Ireland

Seán O’Callaghan (Father Aidan Cleary), Kathy Rose O’Brien (Aoife) and Ian Lloyd Anderson (Ray) in Come On Home Pic: Patrick Redmond

Come On Home

Abbey Theatre, on the Peacock Stage, Dublin

Runs until August 4

Rating:****

‘Nothin’ like a funeral to bring the strays back,” says Father Seamus (Des Nealon) in Phillip McMahon’s new play Come On Home. The stray in question is Michael (Billy Carter), the middle son of the Donnelly clan, who fled small-town Ireland for London when he was rejected by his family, and the priesthood, because of his homosexuality.

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