Fregoli’s latest work, as its title suggests, meditates on the meaning of home. Through a variety of monologues and vignettes, Home jumps between, and sometimes weaves together, the stories of six well-drawn characters. Ellie (Maria Tivnan) is an agoraphobic novelist living only through her work. An Australian wanderer (Seamus O’Donnell) travels to Ireland in search of his roots and the home his father has sought to repress. Amy (Kate Murray), born into an environment of urban crime, has ended up on the streets. Brendan (Jarlath Tivnan) is a proud, ‘culchie’ farmer who enjoys life’s simple pleasures: tractors, Club rock shandy and Fair City. Daíthí (Oísín Robbins) is a young Irish builder; he works in Australia to support his wife and daughter, as well as pay a mortgage, back home. Karen (Teresa Brennan), his wife, has lost her sense of self to her status as a home-maker.
 
The writing of Home was a collaborative effort, with each member of the cast mostly scripting her/his own lines. Despite this array of creative perspectives, the piece hangs together remarkably well, and the dialogue throughout exhibits Fregoli’s penchant for poetry. While parts of O’Donnell’s and Brennan’s contributions become a little overwrought towards the end, overall, the lyrical rhythms of varying pace balance energy with emotion, entertainment with empathy.
 
The cast occupied a bare set and made imaginative use of minimal props. After Amy and Ellie have forged an unlikely friendship, for example, Murray and Maria Tivnan placed a white rectangular frame between them. This was effective in evoking the actual wall, as well as the wider social structures, that separate these characters. The tentative exchanges between the two offered some of the most moving moments in the production. This was balanced by vivacious scenes of Fregoli’s trademark energy and rapid character changes, such as Brendan’s memory of his first night out with the lads; while Jarlath Tivnan narrated and participated, the rest of the cast, supported by Joe McEvoy and Rob McFeely’s lighting, worked to create the colourful, drink-frenzied atmosphere of an Irish nightclub.
 
Brendan begins as the play’s key source of humour: an entertaining—if reductive—caricature. Yet, as his story develops, he arouses progressively the viewer’s sympathy. His cheerful demeanour dissipates to reveal the pain, grief and immense loneliness associated with his over-dependence on family. Similarly, Oísín Robbins’ Daíthí and Teresa Brennan’s Karen, as well as O’Donnell’s Australian wanderer, serve to complicate romanticised visions of home. The ideals of these characters are shattered by transnational journeys of economic or psychological necessity.

The play as a whole takes us on six, interlinked emotional journeys, gradually delving more poignantly into each character’s home-related neurosis. It presents both hope and loss, reminding us that ‘home’ is defined by shared love, compassion and support rather than a physical structure. In doing so, it calls to mind current issues in Ireland: a country littered with vacant houses and families divided by increasing emigration. The audience was visibly moved by Home, a work that is as immediate as it is vibrant and heart wrenching.

Siobhán O’Gorman teaches at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she completed her doctorate in contemporary theatre in 2011.