Jimmy Murphy: Two Plays: Kings of the Kilburn High Road; Brothers of the Brush

In the mid-1970s a group of young men left their homes in the West of Ireland, took the boat out of Dublin Bay and sailed across the sea to England in the hope of making their fortunes and returning home. Twenty-five years later only one, Jackie Flavin, makes it home, but does so in a coffin. The Kings of the Kilburn High Road takes place on the day that the winners and losers of the group meet up to drink to Jackie Flavin’s memory and looks at their lives, lost dreams and their place in the new Ireland.

Brothers of the Brush is a ‘subtle unsentimental lament for the working class’ (Irish Times) in which house painters, patching over the cracks of an old house, misuse each other for their own advantage. In a world blighted by economic recession, with workers losing faith in old ideologies, this play demonstrates just how fragile allegiances are when personal interests are at stake. (Winner of the Dublin Festival Best New Play Award)