''Home, I'm Darling'' is a play by

Laura Wade Laura Wade is an English playwright. Early life Wade was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire. She grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where her father worked for a computer company. After completing her secondary education at Lady Manners School i ...

Plot summary

Judy and Johnny lead a 50’s lifestyle, clothes, décor, appliances. She stays at home while Johnny works as an estate agent. He hopes for a promotion. He realises they have financial problems; the house might be repossessed. Three years earlier Judy had taken voluntary redundancy, but the money has run out. He is underperforming at work and doesn’t earn as much commission. He says he isn’t happy. They need to change. He gets a promotion, but it will involve a long commute. They agree to compromise.

Production history

Theatr Clwyd/National Theatre production

The play made its world premiere at

Theatr Clwyd Theatr Clwyd () is a regional arts centre and producing theatre from Mold, Flintshire, in North East Wales. It opened as Theatr Clwyd in 1976, but was known between 1998 and 2015 as Clwyd Theatr Cymru, before reverting to its original name. His ...

from 25 June to 14 July 2018, before transferring to the Dorfman Theatre at the

National Theatre, London The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

from 24 July to 5 September. The production was directed by Tamara Harvey and starred

Katherine Parkinson Katherine Jane Parkinson (born 9 March 1978) is an English actress. She appeared in Channel 4's '' The IT Crowd'' comedy series as Jen Barber, for which she received a British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 and 2014, and was nominated twice ...

as Judy. On 31 August, National Theatre artistic director

Rufus Norris Rufus Norris (born 16 January 1965) is a British theatre and film director, who is currently the Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of the National Theatre. Life and career Norris grew up in Africa and Malaysia, attended North Bromsg ...

stepped in to play Johnny after Richard Harrington was left indisposed. After the original production, it transferred to the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...

London's West End The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

from 26 January to 13 April 2019, before embarking on a UK tour to the

Theatre Royal, Bath The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...

, and The Lowry, Salford, before returning to Theatr Clwyd.

Australian productions

The play made its Australian premiere at the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

from 20 January to 29 February 2020 at the Southbank Theatre, The Summer, directed by Sarah Goodes and starring Nikki Shiels as Judy. A production at the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

opened at the Drama Theatre at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

in from 6 April to 15 May 2021, directed by Jessica Arthur and starring

Andrea Demetriades Andrea Demetriades (born 1987) is an Australian actress known for her television, theatre and film roles. Personal life Demetriades was born in Perth, the youngest of four sisters. Her father, Costas, emigrated from Cyprus in 1969 and met her ...

as Judy. It was originally due to open in April 2020, however due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

the production was postponed.

UK Northern Tour 2021

The play made its regional debut in the UK in a production directed by Liz Stevenson, in a co-production between The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, The Octagon in Bolton and Theatre by the Lake in Keswick. The production was in the round, the first time the play had been performed in this configuration.

Cast and characters

Awards and nominations

Original UK/West End production

References

2018 plays British plays West End plays Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays {{2010s-play-stub