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

Laura Wade Laura Wade is an English playwright and screenwriter. She is known for her 2018 play '' Home, I'm Darling''. Early life and education Laura Wade was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire. She grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where her father work ...

. Since its 2018 debut 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 ...

, the play has been performed in the West End and toured the UK, as well new productions in Australia and northern England. It has won several awards.

Plot summary

Judy and Johnny lead a 50s 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

''Home, I'm Darling'' is a 2018 play by British playwright

Theatr Clwyd/National Theatre production

The play made its world premiere at

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

National Theatre, London The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

from 24 July to 5 September. The production was directed by

Tamara Harvey Tamara Harvey is a British-based theatre director. Background Tamara Harvey was born in Botswana and grew up in Massachusetts and Brighton. She became co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon with Danie ...

and starred

Katherine Parkinson Katherine Parkinson (born 1977 or 1978) is an English actress. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy series ''The IT Crowd'' as Jen Barber, for which she won BAFTA's British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2014. Par ...

as Judy. On 31 August, National Theatre artistic director

Rufus Norris Sir Rufus John Norris (born 16 January 1965) is a British theatre and film director, who was the artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre from 2015 to 2025. He received the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2025 f ...

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 ...

London's West End The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, England, in the London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which ma ...

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. The production toured again in spring 2023 starring

Jessica Ransom Jessica Audrey Ransom (born 1 December 1981) is a British actress and writer, best known for her role as medical receptionist Morwenna Newcross in the ITV drama ''Doc Martin'' (2011–2022), as well as being a writer on ''The Amazing World of ...

as Judy,

Neil McDermott Neil McDermott (born 15 December 1980) is a British stage and television actor, who is best known for portraying Ryan Malloy in the BBC television soap opera ''EastEnders''. Career McDermott appeared in the 2008 ''Doctor Who'' episode " The N ...

as Johnny and

Diane Keen Diane Keen (born 29 July 1946) is an English actress. With a career spanning numerous decades, she has appeared in various television series, films and stage productions. Keen's notable roles include Fliss Hawthorne in the Granada sitcom '' The ...

as Sylvia.

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 com ...

from 20 January to 29 February 2020 at the Southbank Theatre, The Summer, directed by

Sarah Goodes Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...

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 Theatre ...

opened at the Drama Theatre at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

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 to Australia in 1969 ...

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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

the production was postponed.

UK Northern tour 2021

The play made its regional debut in the UK in 2021. The production was directed by Liz Stevenson, in a co-production between the

Stephen Joseph Theatre The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, the

Octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

and

Theatre by the Lake Theatre by the Lake is situated on the shores of Derwentwater in the Lake District in Keswick, Cumbria, England. It opened in 1999, replacing the mobile Century Theatre, and was made possible by an Arts Council Lottery Fund Grant. From May to N ...

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 Plays by Laura Wade West End plays Laurence Olivier Award–winning plays {{2010s-play-stub