Sam Thompson

Thompson, Sam (1916-1965), play-wright. Born in Belfast and educated locally, he began working as an apprentice painter in the Harland and Wolff shipyard at 14. With encouragement from Sam Hanna Bell, he started writing radio features on the dockyards and plays such as Brush in Hand (1956). His first and best-known play, Over the Bridge (written 1956), shows ordinary trade unionism being overwhelmed by vicious sectarianism in the shipyard. The Evangelist (1961), his second play, concerns a canting hypocrite.

Samuel Thompson (1916-1965) was a Northern Irish playwright born and educated in Belfast. He started work aged 14 as a painter in Harland and Wolfe shipyards.

Works

• Over the Bridge published in 1957, his first and most famous work, charts the course of a sectarian dispute in the shipyard. Its staging was delayed until January,1960 due to political controversy.

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