Walking Each Other Home is a book by Ram Dass, a gay spiritual leader who died in 2019. I just love this idea that we’re all just walking each other home – that our interactions and relationships hold the potential for greater love and understanding until we too pass into what may be our ultimate home…
It’s also the title of my new play – an LGBTQ+ tragi-comedy set in a dilapidated cottage in the Norfolk countryside on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK. Directed by queer theatre director with ADHD Jason Marc-Williams, the cast includes award-winning actor Christopher Poke, Amrik Tumber and Edward Fisher.
The action begins when Michael (Edward Fisher), a gay middle-aged digital nomad, returns home after an ayahuasca ceremony in the Amazon jungle, to visit his homophobic elderly father, Frank (Christopher Poke). Frank is suffering from early-stage dementia and being cared for by a young gay man of Punjabi Sikh heritage. The stage is set for an emotional coaster of a ride!
The inspiration for the play came from a conversation with my own father. I had returned from living in Quito, Ecuador, during the heatwave of 2022 to visit dad. He’d forgotten I was gay. When I reminded him, he put his head in his hands and told me not to tell the neighbours! It was like coming out all over again – this time in my mid-fifties! Naturally, I found it triggering, but I could also see the funny side. I returned to Ecuador and started and put pen to paper!
There are elements of tragedy in the play, but it too is also funny. The three characters inhabit three very different worlds. Some of the humour – as well as the pathos – comes from the confusion and collision of three very different ways of looking at life. The audience is invited to see the unfolding story from three unique perspectives: Frank’s Alzheimer’s, Michael’s love of Amazonian shamanism, and Sandeep’s Sikh faith.
Walking Each Other Home also touches on the current political climate. The danger of Nigel Farage, nationalism and the rise of the Far Right is highlighted as too is the lack of any political will here to solve the crisis in adult social care.
Like Among Angels, my debut play, which dealt with the chemsex epidemic within the LGBTQ+ community, Walking Each Other Home also ventures into spiritual territory. There is even a live shamanic journey on stage! Yet the play also deals with some important LGBTQ+ issues and themes. Many gay men have a difficult relationship with their fathers, and this issue is explored through the dysfunctional dynamic between Frank and Michael. As for what happens between Michael and Sandeep – you’ll have to come and see the play to see how that pans out!
In these increasingly dark and challenging times, ‘Walking Each Other Home’ offers a glimmer of light and hope. Ultimately, it is a play about love and the different guises love can take.
Walking Each Other Home runs from 28 April – 16 May 2026, Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 St John St, Islington, London EC1V 4NJ
Student discount: use code STUDENT12 for 5 & 6 May only. Discount price £12 rather than £19 concession (Bring student ID).
