A Whistle in the Dark
A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered on September 11, 1961 at the Joan Littlewood's 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.
| A Whistle in the Dark | |
|---|---|
Poster for the 1961 production, after it had moved to the Apollo Theatre, London | |
| Written by | Tom Murphy |
| Characters | Michael Carney Harry Carney Des Carney Hugo Carney Dada Iggy Carney Betty Mush |
| Date premiered | September 11, 1961 |
| Place premiered | Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London. |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Irish diaspora, family, violence, masculinity |
| Setting | a living-room in Michael's house in Coventry, c. 1961 |
The play tells the story in three acts of the climactic confrontation between Michael, the oldest of the Carney sons, and his father and brothers, a brawling, hard-drinking, criminal gang of Irish immigrants living and working in Coventry. A powerful portrayal of tribal violence and the devastation it brings in its wake in spite of attempts to stand against it, it remains Murphy's best known and most performed play. John Lahr of The Village Voice saw its influence in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. Other plays showing its influence are Gary Mitchell's In a Little World of Our Own, Rod Wooden's Your Home In The West and Jimmy Murphy’s The Kings of The Kilburn High Road