Murphy, Tom [Thomas] (1935- ), playwright. Born in Tuam, Co. Galway, he was educated by the Christian Brothers before attending the technical school. He became a metalwork teacher at Mountbellew near Tuam. He acted locally and wrote the one-act play, On the Outside (1959), with Noel O'Donoghue, which dealt with class tensions. In 1960 Murphy sent A Whistle in the Dark to Ernest Blythe at the Abbey Theatre, who rejected it. It had a successful production in London. After The Fooleen, later retitled A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant, was also rejected by the Abbey in 1961, Murphy emigrated to England. Famine (1968) dealt with the ‘natural extravagance’ of youth which wants to expand into love. A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant (1969), part expressionist dream-play, part naturalism, balances the pull of excitement and emigration against the attractions of the known and familiar. Murphy returned to Ireland in 1970. The Morning After Optimism (1971), made use of a complex range of theatrical resources. In a forest of images James and Rosie, a pimp and his whore, encounter their better selves, the dream lovers Edmund and Anastasia. The Sanctuary Lamp (1975) features two outcasts, the Irish Francisco and the English Henry, who overturn a confession box in a church, finding refuge in friendship and fellow-feeling. In The Blue Macushla (1980) the night-club of the title is a false sanctuary, run by the corrupt Eddie O'Hara, who is involved in IRA activities. Conversations on a Homecoming (1985) was produced by the Druid Theatre in Galway, with which Murphy was writer in association, 1983-5. It is set in the White House, a run-down pub, where Michael's friends gather to celebrate his return from the USA. Music is central in The Gigli Concert (1983), where it symbolizes an ideal perfection. Bailegangaire (1985) returns to a more naturalist form, but these two plays represent an affirmation of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Too Late for Logic (1989) returns to the exploration of family ties. The Wake (1998) deals with the return of an Irishwoman, now a whore in New York, to her native village, where havoc is let loose. Murphy is a playwright who explores individual and community identity to reveal the great gulf that lies between the ideals projected by the founders of the Irish State, and by the Catholic Church, and the actual conditions in which people live and their mental and emotional states.
Bibliography
Fintan O'Toole, The Politics of Magic (1987, rev. 1993).
