Come on Home

Phillip McMahon, Philip McMahon

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786825612
• eBook ISBN: 9781786825629
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Michael hasn't been home in almost twenty years. Having been kicked out of the seminary and exiled from his family home, he found himself in London, by accident rather than design. But now, the death of his mother sees him back in the small town where he grew up. The place that chewed him up and spat him out.

Reunited with his two brothers, their partners and the local clergy, there are questions that want answering and old scores that need laying to rest. Where do you find home, when your family and faith have abandoned you? An Irish funeral brings out the best and worst in people, and a long night of truths lies ahead.

Act One

SCENE ONE

10.30AM. Two men stand in the living room. MICHAEL and RAY. Brothers. MICHAEL holds a suitcase. He has arrived after a long absence. RAY wears boxer shorts and a T-shirt. He is just out of bed. Behind them is a coffin with its lid ajar. Inside the coffin lies the corpse of their mother. Bottles and cans lay about the room. The remnants of a solo drinking session. Light struggles through the thin curtains which are closed. Shafts of light bounce around the room creating a strange mix of light and shadow. The two men stare at each other.

MICHAEL: Did Mammy say she wanted laying out here?

RAY: It was Brian what said this was the best place for her.

MICHAEL: Why?

RAY: The shop I suppose. I don’t know.

MICHAEL: Did you ask him?

RAY: Brian? Are you mad?

MICHAEL: Would she not be better off in their place?

RAY: Martina says no. On account of her new carpets.

MICHAEL stares at RAY.

MICHAEL: Look at you.

RAY: What?

MICHAEL: You’re… (all grown up).

RAY: (Self-conscious.) Yeah.

MICHAEL: My God.

RAY: Give over.

MICHAEL: This is strange. Stood here.

RAY: For you maybe. The rest of us is just part of the furniture.

RAY gathers empty cans and an ashtray from the floor. MICHAEL follows with his eyes.

RAY: You’re not to be frowning at me now. This was just to be a toast to herself. But sure the inch became the mile in no time.

RAY moves to the kitchen. MICHAEL tentatively moves to the casket.

MICHAEL: Are people to come here? Is this where we’re to wake her?

RAY: I was like an aul’ sailor singin’ at the top of me lungs last night – there ain’t nothin’ wakin’ her.

MICHAEL doesn’t react.

She loved an aul’ joke Mikey.

MICHAEL sees his mother’s body for the first time.

MICHAEL: She looks so…

RAY inhales a ‘yeah’.

Old.

The men stand in silence. MICHAEL grips the coffin’s edge.

Fuck.

MICHAEL mauls at his face. RAY allows him his moment.

RAY: She never settled with Brian and Martina. You know that Mikey?

MICHAEL: My name is Michael. We’re not kids stood here Ray.

RAY: This is her home. That’s all.

Beat.

Come in now. Get settled.

MICHAEL: I’m booked into Kavanagh’s. I’ll wet my face and come back.

RAY: Kavanagh’s?

MICHAEL: Somewhere to lay my head.

RAY: You’ll stay here.

MICHAEL: No.

RAY: You will an’ all. You’ll stay here with me, your brother. A hotel? Could you imagine what she’d say to that.

MICHAEL: It’s a ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Act One
• Act Two