Tom Murphy was born in Tuam, Co.Galway, and he continues to have a deep attachment to the place of his birth.

At the age of 24, he wrote his first play, On the Outside, in collaboration with his great friend Noel O’Donoghue. The following year, aged 25, he completed his first full-length play, which under the original title, The Iron Men, won a number of Irish national playwriting awards. In 1961 it was produced as A Whistle in the Dark at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, one of the most momentous premieres in British Theatre in the 60s, later transferring to the West End.

His next plays were produced at the Abbey and include Famine, A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant and The Morning after Optimism. Two of his most controversial and highly regarded plays were to follow in the late 70s and early 80s, The Sanctuary Lamp and The Gigli Concert.

In 1984, he began an association with Druid that initially saw Druid produce Famine and On the Outside. These were a prelude to the landmark productions of the mid 80s, Conversations on a Homecoming and Bailegangaire. These productions were widely acclaimed both at home and internationally and saw Druid work with one of the great Irish actors of our time, Siobhán McKenna.

With these plays Druid achieved everything they aspired to for a touring policy, true to this day, of bringing one and the same production to rural communities, to theatres throughout Ireland and to some of the key global centres in the English speaking world. We can gauge the impact of the Druid/Murphy collaborations in London, for instance, from Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of The Globe Theatre, who remembers “these productions as one of the finest examples in the world of a company of actors and director giving particular life to a writer.”

His plays have since been premiered by The Abbey, The Edinburgh International Festival and The Royal Court, London. These include Too Late for Logic, The Patriot Game, The Wake, The House and Alice Trilogy.

His plays have been produced throughout the world including the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Austria, Hungary and Portugal. His most recent production, The Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant, has just completed its run at the Abbey Theatre. He also directs his own work and in recent years has directed celebrated productions of Bailegangaire, Alice Trilogy and The Sanctuary Lamp.

The Druid Story essays were written by Thomas Conway, currently Literary Manager with Druid.