When A Wee Home From Home was first performed 21 years ago it was progressive in more ways than one. Written by Michael Marra, Gerry Mulgrew, Frank McConnell and Caroline Docherty, for their then new Plan B company, it explored notions of Scottish identity at a time when the country was on the cusp of great change.

The fallout from the decline of industry was giving way to the hope represented by the success of the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival. Structurally, meanwhile, it was an innovative attempt to explore new ways of creating and presenting dance, music and theatre in performance.

The fact that it was also a story about a man who returns to Glasgow after 21 years made it ripe for revival in this the Year of Homecoming. Perhaps most intriguing of all is the fact that Marra and McConnell return in the roles they played in the original production — no easy task considering McConnell’s role entails a complicated and physically demanding dance part.

The story is simple but powerful. Frankie, played by McConnell, knocks on a door to find no one home. With time on his hands he wanders the streets of his past besieged by memories and emotions. “We investigate every corner it could have gone physically, musically, psychologically and dramatically,” says Marra. “We originally did it in a room in Paisley and it was very intense. But we were all into it and we devised the story as we went along. There always had to be sound reasons for our next move.”

Twenty-one years on and the changes are subtle rather than sweeping. In some ways the Glasgow of the original is unrecognisable; in others nothing has changed.

“The very reasons for creating A Wee Home from Home all those years ago were to question the nation’s lack of self confidence, our penchant for holding onto our various national icons, our heritage, our history — our nostalgia,” says McConnell.

“Ideas and notions which contributed to holding Scotland back. In the period since the first production I now find myself questioning how much has changed? Certainly we have a Scottish parliament, a nationalist government, unthinkable 20 years ago — and arguably an increase in the confidence of the nation. And possibly because the aforementioned are in place there seemed to be enough good reasons for calling people back home. But calling back and looking back are different things.”

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