Sam Thompson (writer)
Encyclopedia
Sam Thompson (21 May 1916 – 15 February 1965) was a Northern Irish
playwright
best known for his controversial plays Over the Bridge, which exposes sectarianism
, and Cemented with Love, which focuses on political corruption. His works fall into the social realist
genre but are distinct in their dramatisation of Northern Irish issues; they were ground-breaking in documenting sectarian violence before the eruption of the Troubles
.
, Belfast
, Thompson was the seventh of eight children of a lamp-lighter and part-time sexton of St Clement's Church. He spent most of his working life as a painter in the Belfast shipyard
s, starting aged 14 at Harland and Wolff
and working for Belfast Corporation after the Second World War, and much of his writing draws on these experiences.
Thompson was a lifelong socialist and a committed trades unionist; he became a shop steward
at the Belfast Corporation. His opposition to sectarian discrimination was to cost him his job. He stood unsuccessfully for parliament as the Labour party
candidate for the rural South Down constituency
in 1964.
He married May Thompson in 1947. He suffered a heart attack in June 1961, dying suddenly from a second heart attack in 1965.
in 1956.
Several radio plays and documentary features for the BBC were to follow. Tommy Baxter, Shopsteward (1957) focuses on discrimination against a trades union official by the management, while The General Foreman (1958) takes on the difficult role of the foreman mediating between management and the workforce. The autobiographical piece The Long Back Street (1959) describes poverty and sectarian violence during Thompson's early life in Ballymacarrett. He became a full-time playwright and actor in 1959.
His later works for radio include the documentary A Bed for the Night in which he interviews inmates of a Belfast hostel for the homeless, and the serial The Fairmans: Life in a Belfast Working Family (1960–1).
, then director of the Ulster Group Theatre, early in 1958, reportedly saying "I got a play you wouldn't touch with a bargepole!" Ellis accepted it, and rehearsals had already started for a production in April 1959 when the theatre's Board of Directors headed by J. Ritchie McKee refused to produce the play, criticising it in the Belfast Telegraph as "full of grossly vicious phrases and situations which would undoubtedly offend and affront every section of the public" and stating "It is the policy of the directors of the Ulster Group Theatre to keep political and religious controversies off our stage." Ellis and many actors of the Ulster Group Theatre resigned to form their own company, and Thompson successfully sued the Board for breach of contract.
Over the Bridge finally opened in Belfast on 26 January 1960, directed by Ellis and starring J. G. Devlin, Joseph Tomelty
and Harry Towb
; Thompson played one of the minor roles. It was highly successful, with an estimated total audience of 42,000 people during the six-week run, far greater than had attended any play in the city previously. On tour, Over the Bridge enjoyed considerable success in Dublin and Glasgow
, and also played in Edinburgh
, Brighton
and the London West End
. The play was later adapted for television by Granada
and for radio by BBC Belfast.
Ten years after its production, Sam Hanna Bell wrote that "at last the unclean spirit of
sectarianism had been dragged before the floodlights and examined with passion, pity and corrosive laughter". Later critics also consider the play to have been ground-breaking; James McAleavey considers Over the Bridge and the controversy surrounding its staging to be "a landmark in the cultural history of Northern Ireland and ... prophetic of the Troubles to follow;" Michael Parker describes it as "a potent example of a text which illuminates the condition of the culture that frames it" and adds "the story of its reception provides incontrovertible evidence of the unease within the Unionist establishment during this period;" while Lance Pettitt calls the play "a powerful indictment of the failure of labour politics against religious fundamentalism".
Thompson's second stage play, The Evangelist (1963) is based on the religious revival in Ulster
of 1859 and focuses on the exploitation of evangelism
; it proved neither as controversial nor as successful as Over the Bridge.
, gerrymandering
and personation
, the play lambasts both Unionist
and Nationalist
parties. Intended for broadcast during the 1964 general election
year, it was repeatedly postponed due to protests from the BBC in Belfast. After a campaign led by the producer from BBC London, Cemented with Love finally appeared in May 1965 as part of The Wednesday Play
series, a few months after Thompson's death. It was adapted as a stage play in 1966 by Tomás MacAnna.
Thompson had completed a draft of a further stage play, The Masquerade, set in London, before his death.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
best known for his controversial plays Over the Bridge, which exposes sectarianism
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
, and Cemented with Love, which focuses on political corruption. His works fall into the social realist
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
genre but are distinct in their dramatisation of Northern Irish issues; they were ground-breaking in documenting sectarian violence before the eruption of the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
.
Life
Born and educated in a working-class Protestant area in BallymacarrettBallymacarrett
Ballymacarrett or Ballymacarret is the name of both a townland and electoral ward in Belfast. The townland is in County Down and the electoral ward is part of the Pottinger district electoral area of Belfast City Council....
, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Thompson was the seventh of eight children of a lamp-lighter and part-time sexton of St Clement's Church. He spent most of his working life as a painter in the Belfast shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
s, starting aged 14 at Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff
Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
and working for Belfast Corporation after the Second World War, and much of his writing draws on these experiences.
Thompson was a lifelong socialist and a committed trades unionist; he became a shop steward
Union steward
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company, who represents and defends the interests of her/his fellow employees but who is also a labor union official...
at the Belfast Corporation. His opposition to sectarian discrimination was to cost him his job. He stood unsuccessfully for parliament as the Labour party
Northern Ireland Labour Party
The Northern Ireland Labour Party was an Irish political party which operated from 1924 until 1987.In 1913 the British Labour Party resolved to give the recently formed Irish Labour Party exclusive organising rights in Ireland...
candidate for the rural South Down constituency
South Down (UK Parliament constituency)
South Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the southern part of Down...
in 1964.
He married May Thompson in 1947. He suffered a heart attack in June 1961, dying suddenly from a second heart attack in 1965.
Writing
Thompson was encouraged to begin writing for radio in 1955, aged 39, by novelist and radio producer Sam Hanna Bell, who overheard him telling stories of shipyard life in a pub. His first piece, the radio documentary feature Brush in Hand about shipyard apprenticeship, was broadcast on BBC Northern IrelandBBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
in 1956.
Several radio plays and documentary features for the BBC were to follow. Tommy Baxter, Shopsteward (1957) focuses on discrimination against a trades union official by the management, while The General Foreman (1958) takes on the difficult role of the foreman mediating between management and the workforce. The autobiographical piece The Long Back Street (1959) describes poverty and sectarian violence during Thompson's early life in Ballymacarrett. He became a full-time playwright and actor in 1959.
His later works for radio include the documentary A Bed for the Night in which he interviews inmates of a Belfast hostel for the homeless, and the serial The Fairmans: Life in a Belfast Working Family (1960–1).
Over the Bridge
The stage play Over the Bridge, Thompson's best-known work, charts the tragic course of a sectarian dispute in the shipyard. Thompson offered the play to James EllisJames Ellis (actor)
James Ellis is an actor from Northern Ireland with a television career of more than 45 years. He went to school at Methodist College Belfast and later studied at both Queen's University Belfast and the Bristol Old Vic....
, then director of the Ulster Group Theatre, early in 1958, reportedly saying "I got a play you wouldn't touch with a bargepole!" Ellis accepted it, and rehearsals had already started for a production in April 1959 when the theatre's Board of Directors headed by J. Ritchie McKee refused to produce the play, criticising it in the Belfast Telegraph as "full of grossly vicious phrases and situations which would undoubtedly offend and affront every section of the public" and stating "It is the policy of the directors of the Ulster Group Theatre to keep political and religious controversies off our stage." Ellis and many actors of the Ulster Group Theatre resigned to form their own company, and Thompson successfully sued the Board for breach of contract.
Over the Bridge finally opened in Belfast on 26 January 1960, directed by Ellis and starring J. G. Devlin, Joseph Tomelty
Joseph Tomelty
Joseph Tomelty was a Northern Irish character actor and playwright. He worked in film, television, radio and on the stage, starring in Sam Thompson's 1960 play Over the Bridge.-Early life:...
and Harry Towb
Harry Towb
Harry Towb was a Northern Irish actor.-Early life and career:Towb's father was Russian and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast...
; Thompson played one of the minor roles. It was highly successful, with an estimated total audience of 42,000 people during the six-week run, far greater than had attended any play in the city previously. On tour, Over the Bridge enjoyed considerable success in Dublin and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, and also played in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and the London West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
. The play was later adapted for television by Granada
Granada Productions
Granada Productions was a British commercial television production and distribution company. The company took its name from the successful ITV franchise, Granada Television....
and for radio by BBC Belfast.
Ten years after its production, Sam Hanna Bell wrote that "at last the unclean spirit of
sectarianism had been dragged before the floodlights and examined with passion, pity and corrosive laughter". Later critics also consider the play to have been ground-breaking; James McAleavey considers Over the Bridge and the controversy surrounding its staging to be "a landmark in the cultural history of Northern Ireland and ... prophetic of the Troubles to follow;" Michael Parker describes it as "a potent example of a text which illuminates the condition of the culture that frames it" and adds "the story of its reception provides incontrovertible evidence of the unease within the Unionist establishment during this period;" while Lance Pettitt calls the play "a powerful indictment of the failure of labour politics against religious fundamentalism".
Thompson's second stage play, The Evangelist (1963) is based on the religious revival in Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
of 1859 and focuses on the exploitation of evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
; it proved neither as controversial nor as successful as Over the Bridge.
Cemented with Love
The television play Cemented with Love saw a return to controversy: a black comedy which deals with corrupt electoral practices including briberyBribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
, gerrymandering
Gerrymandering
In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts...
and personation
Personation
Personation is a term used in law for the specific kind of voter fraud where an individual votes in an election, whilst pretending to be a different elector....
, the play lambasts both Unionist
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
and Nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
parties. Intended for broadcast during the 1964 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1964
The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...
year, it was repeatedly postponed due to protests from the BBC in Belfast. After a campaign led by the producer from BBC London, Cemented with Love finally appeared in May 1965 as part of The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
series, a few months after Thompson's death. It was adapted as a stage play in 1966 by Tomás MacAnna.
Thompson had completed a draft of a further stage play, The Masquerade, set in London, before his death.
Blue Plaque
On 26 January 2010, a Blue Plaque was unveiled at Montrose Street South, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, the location of the house playwright Sam Thompson was born in, on the 50th anniversary of the first performance of his controversial play Over The Bridge.Stage plays
- Over the Bridge (1957)
- The Evangelist (1963)
- The Masquerade (not produced)
Radio
- Brush in Hand (1956)
- Tommy Baxter, Shopsteward (1957)
- The Island Men
- The General Foreman (1958)
- The Long Back Street (1959)
- The Fairmans: Life in a Belfast Working Family (1960–1)
- A Bed for the Night
External links
- Newmann K. Dictionary of Ulster Biography (1993)
- EIRDATA: Sam Thompson (includes list of critical works)
- RASCAL (NI): Sam Thompson