When Are You Going Back? (Short Play – Dark Comedy – Easily Adapted for Radio)

Ben and Eddie were childhood friends but once out of school they both took different paths and subsequently lost touch. Ben stayed in the small town where they grew up, became a barber, opened his own business and married a local girl. Eddie was lured across the channel to England. As a teenager Eddie showed signs of becoming a professional ‘chancer’ and amounting to very little.

This potential was realised in London and despite his dreams of bigger and better things, he has pretty much run out of luck and returned home.

The play opens with Eddie, literally just off the boat, turning up on the doorstep of Ben’s barber shop. Ben soon reads between the lines and realises that Eddie is broke among other things. He lends him some money and gets him a job painting a nearby chip shop. Ben soon realises that Eddie hasn’t changed at all and is up to his old tricks with sometimes hilarious results.

This play explores loyalty and friendship between two young men, even though they no longer really know each other. It is also interesting to watch how they easily slip back into their old childlike exchanges whenever they get together.