The Homecoming of Joseph Grace, a new play by Deirdre Kinahan, will be performed by Michael Glen Murphy when it comes to the Kells Courthouse Tourism and Cultural Hub on Saturday, 15 August 2026, at 7pm. Tickets are available from the Bookmarket, Kells. The play is presented Meath Arts Office, Once Off Productions and The Bookmarket Kells present: a very special unplugged performance of the play directed by Louise Lowe.
The plot sees a man on his homecoming: A man sits by a body of water. His once good suit hangs loosely now on his bones. It is dawn. The early boat he has travelled on has just docked and his fellow bleary eyed passengers disembark, swarming towards the city. In this near empty place he sits, unwilling or unable to set proper foot on Irish Soil.
Not just a play of what was, or what is, The Homecoming of Joseph Grace by Deirdre Kinahan is a tender, disarming and unexpected new drama. Wrapped in longing and separation, this is a meticulous and devastatingly vivid portrayal of a life lived in extraordinary circumstance. As we sit with Joseph in an Irish ferry terminal, we sit with every refugee and every citizen of the world who is forced to flee in search of peace, happiness, love, home.
Acclaimed playwright Deirdre Kinahan (The Saviour 2022, Tempesta 2024, Songs and Souls 2025) reunites with leading theatre director Louise Lowe to explore the city’s cultural history as a port and place of departure in creating an evocation of place, memory and mind. Produced by Once Off Productions and Cork Midsummer Festival, in association with Pavilion Theatre. Funded by the Arts Council. Supported by Meath County Council Arts Office and Dublin Port.
