By Hannah Shury-Smith

Part of 37 Plays, a national playwriting project to create a series of 37 brand new plays that reflect the world we live in today.

SYNOPSIS

Set in a South London suburban home, Go Back Home! explores the contrasting struggles of three generations of a Guyanese-British family to accept their diasporic identities and find a place where they feel they belong.

Overwhelmed with caring for her father as his dementia symptoms progressively get worse, Dionne plans to send Albert to a care home. Dionne’s plan is disrupted, however, when Maya’s premature return from university coincides with the sudden disappearance of Albert.

But, as Maya accompanies her granddad on a quest to find their home, the boundary between reality and Albert’s memories begins to falter. A blazing sun perpetually shines as past and present bleed into each other, and Albert’s deceased mother infiltrates the home, forcing the family to confront their relationship with their Guyanese heritage. Always balanced between surrealism and naturalism, Go Back Home! is an exploration of mixed-race identity and the difficulty for diasporic individuals to find a home when they feel exiled from their ancestral countries.

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Playwright age category: 18+

 

Rebecca Latham, New Work Team

"Theatrically engaging and inventive, this play delicately yet boldly explores family dynamics and dementia and heritage."

About the playwright

Hannah is a playwright and screenwriter from South London. She has taken part in the Royal Court Introduction to Playwriting Group (2022-3), Talawa Young People’s Theatre (2021-2), the 4Screenwriting scheme (2020-1) and is currently being mentored by Inua Ellams under the Sky Arts RSL Writers Award for Playwriting (2022-3). Go Back Home! is her first full length play. It has previously been awarded the 2022 Alfred Fagon Award and has currently been commissioned for development under the Theatre Royal Haymarket Writer’s Award.