Review: Extraordinary history of a marginal figure in The Homecoming of Joseph Grace

Actor Michael Glenn Murphy digs deep into Joseph Grace’s psyche in this play for Cork Midsummer Festival

Michael Glenn Murphy in The Homecoming Of Joseph Grace. Picture: Celeste Burdon

The Homecoming of Joseph Grace

• Event Room, Marina Market, 
• Cork Midsummer Festival

★★★★☆

We first encounter Joseph Grace as a slight, dapper figure waiting on a bus at an Irish ferry terminal. Dressed in an elegant suit, with a coat and trilby, he carries a suitcase of a vintage that suggests the setting might be the 1950s or ‘60s. 

He is, he says, going home to settle his affairs, and it soon transpires that he has been away so long he can have no idea of who might be there to meet him.

Home is Kells, Co Meath, the place he left aged 14, when he joined the British Army on a whim. The decision brings him to the frontline of the Great War in Europe, to chaos and killing, and eventual imprisonment. 

He volunteers for Roger Casement’s Irish Brigade, intending to fight in the rebellion in Ireland at Easter 1916. But when Casement disbands the brigade, he finds himself despised by his comrades as a traitor to the Empire.

But it is also around this time that he discovers his sexuality, and his tribe, and this is where his story takes off, as he revels in the unrepentant hedonism of Berlin and London between the wars.

Michael Glenn Murphy’s is an entirely convincing performance, one that leaves the audience in no doubt as to the depth and complexity of Grace’s character. Picture: Celeste Burdon

Michael Glenn Murphy digs deep into Grace’s psyche, portraying the pain and joy he experiences as a gay man at a time when it could all too often lead to social disgrace, ostracisation, and even suicide. 

There are moments when he dances with abandon, moments when his features crease into an expression of mirth or grief. Murphy’s is an entirely convincing performance, one that leaves the audience in no doubt as to the depth and complexity of Grace’s character.

Deirdre Kinahan is a veteran playwright, and brings a wealth of experience to her study of this marginal figure. She may sometimes dwell too much on explaining the historical context of the story, but her language is always understated and exact. 

Louise Lowe’s direction is just as sure, while Owen Boss’s set design is minimal, but perfectly so; our eyes are always on the homecoming gallant with the suitcase as he unpacks his extraordinary history.