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[1]
Place premiered
Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London.[2]
Original language
English
Subject
Irish diaspora, family, violence, masculinity
Setting
a living-room in Michael's house in Coventry, c. 1961
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.[3] It then went on to be a West End hit.[4] Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time.[5][6]
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.[7] 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
^Martin Middeke; Peter Paul Schnierer (28 May 2010). The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 264–. ISBN 978-1-4081-3268-5.
^"A Whistle in the Dark". The Stage, What's On Reviews, 7 March 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
^Martin Middeke; Peter Paul Schnierer (28 May 2010). The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary Irish Playwrights. A&C Black. pp. 310–. ISBN 978-1-4081-1346-2.
^"Tom Murphy's belated Fringe debut". The British Theatre Guide, 2005. Archived from the original on 2011-01-31. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
^"A Whistle in the Dark". The Tricycle Theatre. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
^"Tom Murphy's Éire force". The Village Voice, 22 January 2002. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
and 18 Related for: A Whistle in the Dark information
AWhistleintheDark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered on September 11, 1961 at the Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, having...
his own production company the Company Theatre with Philip Riccio. The company's inaugural production, AWhistleintheDark, brought Hawco critical acclaim...
debut in Lenny Abrahamson's What Richard Did. Drea was cast inthe Druid Theatre Company production of A Whisper intheDark, which was staged in Ireland...
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or...
In 1961, Phelan co-presented with Robin Fox the first production of Tom Murphy’s AWhistleintheDark at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Apollo...
Street Academy in Dublin. He made his professional stage debut in 2022 playing Iggy in Tom Murphy’s AWhistleintheDark at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His...
in an episode of Thriller (1975). On stage, he appeared in Tom Murphy's AWhistleintheDark at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal, Stratford East, in London...
A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee or swannee whistle, lotus flute, piston flute, or jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple...
Several years later, Druid revived a trilogy of Tom Murphy's plays (Conversations on a Homecoming, AWhistleintheDark and Famine) entitled DruidMurphy;...
2016). "Awhistleinthedark | The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 8 July 2019. Zubair, Amna (6 March 2019). "Here is the latest update...
Orchestral Manoeuvres intheDark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed inthe Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of founding duo and...
started as a child actress in television series, she has appeared in numerous film and theatre roles. Born in Hammersmith, London, Rooper is the daughter...
22, 2016 – May 1, 2016. The Judas Kiss (theatre program). Brooklyn Academy of Music. 11 May – 12 June 2016. My Eyes Went Dark – Daisy Bowie-Sell, Timeout...
a place of curiosity and authenticity, free from choreographed and often limiting choices. Their debut production, the Canadian premiere of AWhistle...
amateur detective Wally "The Fox" Benton, following WhistlingintheDark and Whistlingin Dixie. Leo Durocher, then-manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, made...
Global Information