A Whistle in the Dark

A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered in 1961 at the 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. It 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 and Rod Wooden's Your Home In The West.

In 2005, The Company Theatre in Toronto chose the play for its launch at the Berkeley Street Theatre. The production was helmed by Irish director Jason Byrne and starred Joseph Ziegler, Jonathan Goad, Allan Hawco, Philip Riccio and Sarah Dodd.

It was named “Best of 2005” in Canadian newspapers including the Globe and Mail, National Post, Now Magazine, and eye weekly. National Post called it a “masterpiece production of a masterpiece play”.

It also received two nominations for Dora Mavor Moore awards, specifically Outstanding Production and Outstanding Lead Performance Male for Joseph Ziegler.

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