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Help us stage the first run of Mammy’s House: a play honouring Irish queer resilience in London during the 1980s AIDS crisis
Our goal is simple but ambitious: to bring an authentic, quality production of Mammy's House to the London stage this September.
We're proud to already have initial backing from the Emigrant Support Programme through the Embassy of Ireland, GB. Their support has helped to set the stage, now we need your help to light it.
We want to create a space where the Irish diaspora and the LGBTQ+ community can see their shared history reflected with dignity, humour, and truth. We wish to establish this story in the theatrical canon so that these vital voices are never deemed "disposable" ever again.
We are Amy Clarke (writer & co-creator) and Derek Murphy (producer & co-creator). This project started with a single conversation. After hearing the first-hand account of an Irishman who lived through the London AIDS crisis, we realised how little of this specific experience had been captured, and how easily a legacy like this can be lost to time if we don't work to preserve it.
We saw a gap in our history. A"double exile"of being queer and Irish in a city that wasn't always welcoming to its Irish residents. We aren't just devising a play; we're documenting a community that was almost lost to silence.
While Ireland remained bound by shame, and homosexuality was a criminal offence, thousands of Irish gay men and lesbian women crossed the Irish Sea in search of freedom, where they faced a whole new, unforeseeable challenge. Mammy’s House captures this moment of tension where liberation was shadowed by fear.
Thanks to the generosity of the Irish Emigrant Support Programme, we’ve spent the last two years in Research & Development, bringing to life a script that feels as authentic as the people who lived through this time.
We've documented the story, it's now time to bring it to the stage.
Camden, 1985. A chaotic terraced house that smells of hairspray, burnt toast, and sarcasm. Inside, a small, queer Irish household has built a world of their own. While their community is on the verge of a disaster it can't begin to imagine, Mammy’s house is filled with bickering, unfinished chores, laughter, and more glitter than is strictly legal.
Mammy never meant to be anyone's guardian, but he’s ended up with a house full of runaways he can’t help but feel responsible for. There’s Nellie, a new resident who's all sparkle, noise and flammable wigs. Then Mags, a long term staple of the house whose stoic approach to life will be relied on more than they know. Finally, there's the ghost of Mammy's past, who lives on in his daily guilt, greeting every visitor who crosses the threshold.
What follows is six years of ordinary life lived under extraordinary pressure. As the AIDS crisis envelops them, testing loyalties and exposing old wounds, the household is forced to face the very things they’ve been seeking sanctuary from.
Mammy’s House is about the families we build when the ones we were born into cannot accept us. Bursting with Irish humour and queer resilience, it's a a testament to the small acts of love that become lifelines when the world declares you are disposable.
It's a story of the people who survived, those who didn’t, and the walls that held them all.
The play draws directly on the lived experiences of LGBT+ Irish migrants in 1980s London, whose voices were largely erased from mainstream Irish memory. Many worked in hospitals and care homes during the AIDS crisis; many died far from home, denied acknowledgement by their families or the Church.
Mammy’s House is the chance to finally amplify those voices and to give those lives back the dignity they were stripped of.
Though Ireland has changed with marriage equality and new queer representation, the trauma of that generation remains largely unspoken, but still very much exists. This play bridges that silence, connecting the liberation of today’s LGBTQ+ Irish communities to the sacrifices of those who left because they had no other option.
For younger audiences, it will illuminate a history few have been taught. For older audiences, Irish or otherwise, it offers recognition, compassion, and reconciliation. It reaffirms how humour and care can coexist even in the face of crisis.
In the lineage of works such as Angels in America, It’s a Sin, and Dancing at Lughnasa, Mammy’s House offers a distinctly Irish perspective on global queer history. It combines emotional intimacy with political resonance.
We have the script. We have the history. Now we need the stage.
This production has already received early backing from the Emigrant Support Programme Fund through the Embassy of Ireland, GB and the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith. Their support has allowed us to begin securing our show dates and laying the groundwork for a full London run.
But staging a new play in London is a major undertaking. A full production requires significant investment, and community support is the final piece that will make this possible. Your contribution helps us bridge the gap between early backing and a fully realised, professional production.
Your donations will go directly toward:
Mammy’s House is more than a play. It is a reclamation of memory. It celebrates the courage that kept a community fighting for recognition and dignity when the world wanted nothing more than to turn its back on them.
We have built Mammy's House. Now we need your help to open the door.
IT'S TIME TO TELL THEIR STORY.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 12th July 2026 at 12:00pm