The Festival is delighted to welcome back Druid with this major celebration of one of Ireland’s most respected living dramatists, Tom Murphy

DruidMurphy is the story of Irish emigration; a story both of those who went and those who were left behind. Told through three of his greatest plays; Conversations on a Homecoming, A Whistle in the Dark and Famine, it covers the period from The Great Hunger of the 19th century to the ‘new’ Ireland of the 1970s, and explores what we mean when we call a place home.

Conversations on a Homecoming

Dates: Oct 2, 5, 6, 9, 12 & 13

Times: 7.30pm. Oct 6 & 13, 1pm

County Galway, The 1970s. Even the humblest of small-town pubs can be a magnet for dreamers. Over a long drinking session, Michael – recently returned from New York after a ten-year absence – has a reunion with old friends, ‘The White House’. Faced with the changes the years have wrought, they begin a process of self-discovery.

A Whistle in the Dark

Dates: Oct 3, 6, 7, 10 & 13

Times: Oct 6, 7 & 13, 3.30pm / Oct 3 & 10, 7.30pm

It’s 1960 and Michael Carney is an Irish emigrant living in Coventry, England with his wife, Betty. He has given lodgings to his three brothers and the imminent arrival of his father and younger brother cause tensions to boil over.

Famine

Dates: Oct 4, 6, 11 & 13

Times: 7.30pm

County Mayo, West of Ireland, 1846. In Glanconnor village in the west of Ireland, the second crop of potatoes fails. The community now faces the real prospect of starvation. John Connor, head of the family, leader of the village, son of glorious forefathers, is surrounded by starvation and poverty. He will do the right thing – by himself, by God and by his family.

See each of the plays individually or experience all three plays together in a single day on Sat Oct 6 & 13 from 1pm – 10pm. The DruidMurphy cycle day includes an afternoon and an evening break, starting with Conversations on a Homecoming and A Whistle in the Dark and finishing with Famine in the evening.
 

DRUIDMURPHY IS A CO-PRODUCTION WITH QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY CONNECTICUT, NUI GALWAY, LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL AND GALWAY ARTS FESTIVAL.