Frank McGuinness's play about life in neutral rural Ireland during the Second World War, exploring personal and political battles.
Brighton Little Theatre is putting on Dolly West's Kitchen, Frank McGuinness's play about life in neutral rural Ireland during the Second World War. It runs from 2 March to 6 March 2027, so it's a short run — five nights in total.
The story is set in the coastal town of Buncrana, where Ireland stayed neutral while the rest of Europe was at war. It follows a family wrestling with their own personal and political battles, and things shift when American soldiers arrive. New opportunities and new tensions bubble to the surface, and the meals they serve come with equal helpings of laughter, longing and sharp-tongued debate.
McGuinness describes the play as both intimate and epic, blending humour, heartbreak and humanity to create a portrait of ordinary lives caught up in the extraordinary sweep of history. It's that mix of the small, domestic stuff and the wider world that gives it its weight — the family arguments and the quiet moments in the kitchen set against the backdrop of a global conflict that's happening just over the horizon.
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If you're fancying a night at the theatre, it's at Brighton Little Theatre from 2 March to 6 March 2027.
