SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN by Mick Donnellan

Sunday Morning Coming Down is a West of Ireland rural Play set in the small town of Ballinrobe, Co.Mayo. It centres around the McGuire family and their often comic attempts to perform as a functional family in a house dominated by alcohol, religion and social pressures. John and Chris are brothers but live very different lives. John has just returned from a six month teaching placement in Italy but Chris has remained in the town to work in a slaughterhouse. Their divergent lifestyles become apparent through their conversations and attitudes toward alcohol. Joe, their father, is the gravedigger and  alcoholic that’s married to Theresa. Their marriage is a struggle at best and Joe often outperforms even the worst type of ageing Irish drinker. John is convinced he’s only home for a week and will be out of the tension soon, but Sharon, his ex-girlfriend, arrives back on the scene to set doubts in his mind.

At times fiercely funny, yet dark, and others sharply poignant and sad, this Play offers enough ingredients to set the stage for a feast of drama and a thundering climax that ought to resonate with audiences from every walk of life for a very long time.