Tom Murphy (playwright)
Encyclopedia
Tom Murphy is an Irish dramatist who has worked closely with the Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...

 in Dublin and with Druid Theatre, Galway. He was born in Tuam
Tuam
Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...

, County Galway
County Galway
County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. His first successful play, A Whistle In the Dark
A Whistle In the Dark
A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered in 1961 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It then went on to be a West End hit. Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time...

was performed at the Theatre Royal Stratford East
Theatre Royal Stratford East
The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company.-History:...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1961 and caused considerable controversy both there and in Dublin when it was later given its Irish premiere at the Abbey having initially been rejected by its artistic director. His play The Sanctuary Lamp
The Sanctuary Lamp
The Sanctuary Lamp is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy written in 1975 but revised for subsequent productions. When premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin its anti-Catholic stance caused enormous controversy with its author denounced in pulpits up and down the country...

 is being shown at the Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre is a studio theatre in Dalston, in the London Borough of Hackney. The theatre's ambition is to create and present high-quality theatre with a social and political relevance to its multicultural local community as well as a wider audience....

 in Dalston
Dalston
Dalston is a district of north-east London, England, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 from 10 March - 03 April 2010, and is being directed by Tom Murphy himself.

Career and Style

Subsequent plays include the historical epic Famine (1968) which deals with the Irish Potato Famine between 1846 and spring 1847, the anti-clerical The Sanctuary Lamp
The Sanctuary Lamp
The Sanctuary Lamp is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy written in 1975 but revised for subsequent productions. When premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin its anti-Catholic stance caused enormous controversy with its author denounced in pulpits up and down the country...

(1975), The Gigli Concert
The Gigli Concert
The Gigli Concert is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1983 and widely regarded as his masterpiece.-Plot:...

(1983) and for many his masterpiece, the lyrical Bailegangaire and the bar-room comedy Conversations on a Homecoming
Conversations on a homecoming
Conversations on a Homecoming is a 1985 play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy. Premiered by the Druid Theatre Company, Galway, Ireland in a production directed by Garry Hynes. As one of the great Irish plays set in a pub, its influence can be seen in more recent plays such as The Weir by Conor...

(both 1985) .

His work is characterised by a constant experimentation in form and content from the apparently naturalistic A Whistle In the Dark
A Whistle In the Dark
A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered in 1961 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It then went on to be a West End hit. Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time...

to the surreal The Morning After Optimism and the spectacularly verbal The Gigli Concert
The Gigli Concert
The Gigli Concert is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1983 and widely regarded as his masterpiece.-Plot:...

. Recurring themes include the search for redemption and hope in a world apparently deserted by God and filled with suffering. Although steeped in the culture and mythology of Ireland, Murphy's work does not trade on familiar clichés of Irish identity, dealing instead with Dostoyevskian themes of violence, nihilism and despair while never losing sight of the presence of laughter, humour and the possibilities of love and transcendence.

Recent Honours

Considered by many to be Ireland's greatest living playwright (a title also often given to Brian Friel), Tom Murphy was honoured by the Abbey Theatre in 2001 by a retrospective season of six of his plays. Younger playwrights whose work shows an indebtedness to him include Conor McPherson
Conor McPherson
Conor McPherson is an Irish playwright and director.-Life and career:McPherson was born in Dublin, . He was educated at University College Dublin, McPherson began writing his first plays there as a member of UCD Dramsoc, the college's dramatic society, and went on to found Fly By Night Theatre...

, Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh is an Irish-British playwright, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Although he has lived in London his entire life, he is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights.-Life:...

 and Gary Mitchell
Gary Mitchell
Gary Mitchell is a Northern Irish playwright. By the 2000s, he had become "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright"....

. His latest plays include The Wake (1997), The House (2000) and The Alice Trilogy, which premiered in 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

 in London with Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...

 in the eponymous role. In 2006 Murphy directed the Irish premiere of the same play at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin with Jane Brennan in the lead role. In 2009, his play, "The Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant" premiered at the Abbey Theatre.

He has written one novel, The Seduction Of Morality (1994). He currently lives in Dublin.

Plays

  • On The Outside (1959)
  • A Whistle In the Dark
    A Whistle In the Dark
    A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered in 1961 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It then went on to be a West End hit. Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time...

     (1961)
  • Famine (1968)
  • The Orphans (1968)
  • A Crucial Week In The Life Of A Grocer's Assistant (1969)
  • The Morning After Optimism (1971)
  • The White House (1971)
  • On The Inside (1974)
  • The Vicar Of Wakefield(1975)
  • The Sanctuary Lamp
    The Sanctuary Lamp
    The Sanctuary Lamp is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy written in 1975 but revised for subsequent productions. When premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin its anti-Catholic stance caused enormous controversy with its author denounced in pulpits up and down the country...

     (1975)
  • The J Arthur Maginnis Story (1976)
  • Epitaph Under Ether (1979)
  • The Blue Macushla
    Macushla
    Macushla is an Irish song copyrighted circa 1910 with music by Dermot MacMurrough and lyrics by Josephine V. Rowe. The title is a transliteration of the Irish mo chuisle meaning "my pulse" as used in the phrase a chuisle mo chroí meaning "darling" or "sweetheart".It was used in the end credits of...

     (1980)
  • The Informer (1981)
  • The Gigli Concert
    The Gigli Concert
    The Gigli Concert is a play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1983 and widely regarded as his masterpiece.-Plot:...

     (1983)
  • Conversations on a Homecoming
    Conversations on a homecoming
    Conversations on a Homecoming is a 1985 play by Irish playwright Tom Murphy. Premiered by the Druid Theatre Company, Galway, Ireland in a production directed by Garry Hynes. As one of the great Irish plays set in a pub, its influence can be seen in more recent plays such as The Weir by Conor...

     (1985)
  • Bailegangaire (1985)
  • A Thief Of A Christmas (1985)
  • Too Late For Logic (1989)
  • The Patriot Game (1991)
  • She Stoops To Folly (1995)
  • The Wake (1997)
  • The House (2000)
  • Alice Trilogy (2005)
  • The Last Days Of A Reluctant Tyrant (2009)

See also

  • Brian Friel
    Brian Friel
    Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...

  • Sean O'Casey
    Seán O'Casey
    Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...

  • John Millington Synge
    John Millington Synge
    Edmund John Millington Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre...

  • Gary Mitchell
    Gary Mitchell
    Gary Mitchell is a Northern Irish playwright. By the 2000s, he had become "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright"....

  • Owen McCafferty
    Owen McCafferty
    Owen McCafferty is a playwright from Northern Ireland.Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, McCafferty held several jobs, including tiling and working in an abattoir, before becoming a full-time writer...

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