The Playwrights Database
SAM THOMPSON
(1916 - 1965)Nationality: Irish
email: n/a Website: n/a
Literary Agent: n/a
Sam Thompson (1916-1965) was a seminal Northern Irish playwright, best known for his first play, Over the Bridge (1957). the play was first staged in Belfast in 1960, in the troubled aftermath of the Ulster Group Theatres decision to withdraw it for production. the play went on to have runs in Dublin, Brighton and London. Thompsons other plays include the Evangelist (1961) and the television play, Cemented with Love (1964). A draft of a further play, the Masquerade, set in London, was completed just before his death. Thompson wrote several plays for radio which were broadcast by the BBC including Brush in Hand (1956),Tommy Baxter, Shop Steward (1957),the General Foreman (1958),the Long Back Street (1959),the Fairmans: Life in a Belfast Working Family (19601). Thompson spent most of his working life as a painter in the Belfast shipyards, starting aged 14 at Harland and Wolff, and was an active trade unionist all of his life. He also ran for the Northern Ireland Labour Party in the 1964 General Election.?
Research: http://www.irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=8019
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below is a list of Sam Thompson's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Cemented With Love EvAngelist, The Over the BridgeCemented With Love
Synopsis:
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Notes:
1st Produced:
Bbc 1965
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
in Over the Bridge and Other Plays: Over the Bridge, the EvAngelist and Cemented with Love, edited by John Keyes. Lagan press, Belfast 1997 1873687664
Music:
-
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Genre:
teleplay
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageEvAngelist, The
Synopsis:
addresses the theme of religion, and focusing on the events of the religious revival of 1859 in Ulster
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Belfast: Grand Opera House 03 Jun 1963
Organisations:
Grand Opera House In association with Elliman, Edwards-MacLiammoir Productions
1st Published:
in Over the Bridge and Other Plays: Over the Bridge, the EvAngelist and Cemented with Love, edited by John Keyes. Lagan press, Belfast 1997 1873687664
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 15 Female: 6 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageOver the Bridge
Synopsis:
Set in the Belfast Shipyard of the 1950s and against the backdrop of the IRA's Border Campaign, Sam Thompsons seminal 1960 play is a powerful expose of Ulster's sectarian bigotry and violence before the eruption of the Troubles. Peter O'Boyle, a Catholic shipyard worker, has become the target of a vicious whispering campaign. Veteran Trade Unionist Davy Mitchell, a Protestant who has spent his life fighting for others right to work, is keen that the Union does what it can to protect him. As tensions mount and the union begins to split on sectarian lines, mob rule starts to take over. . .
Notes:
Sam Thompson's Over the Bridge, when it was first presented 50 years Ago in Belfast's since demolished Empire theatre, broke the misama of deference to Ulster's then ruling Unionist party's cabal of retired colonels, majors, captains And minor squirearchies. For Thompson, who'd been A painter in the city's shipyards, having been encouraged by Another figure on the literary left, Sam Hanna Bell of BBC Northern Ireland, had written A play which both exposed And detailed the sectarianism which was then part of everyday working life in the Harland And Wolff yards which had produced the Titanic. But the Board of the publicly funded Group theatre, whose members included the BBC's local Head of Programmes Harry McMullan, had turned down the Drama, declaring that they were "determined not to mount A play which would give rise to sectarianism or political controversy of An extreme nature". As so frequently occurs, the old squires had isolated themselves from the public mood, so when the Group's Artistic Director, James Ellis, who would later to Achieve A wider Acclaim As Sergeant Lynch in the gritty Merseyside cop-shopper Z Cars, resigned in protest And set up A new company, Ulster Bridge Productions, he took the play - And most of his company - with him to pack the much larger Empire for week upon week before transferring to Dublin And London.
- Ian Hill, British theatre Guide
- Ian Hill, British theatre Guide
1st Produced:
Belfast: Empire Theatre (1864 - 1961) 26 Jan 1960
Organisations:
Ulster Bridge Productions Ltd.
1st Published:
in Over the Bridge and Other Plays: Over the Bridge, the EvAngelist and Cemented with Love, edited by John Keyes. Lagan press, Belfast 1997 1873687664
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 12 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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