The Morning after Optimism,

Thomas Bernard Patrick Murphy was born in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland on February 23, 1935. While working in a sugar factory, he started writing for a local amateur theater group. He studied metalworking at a technical college and taught that subject for a time before moving to London to become a playwright.

His first full-length play, A Whistle in the Dark, premiered in London in 1961. His other plays included Famine, DruidMurphy, The Gigli Concert, Conversations on a Homecoming, and Bailegangaire. He died from heart failure on May 15, 2018 at the age of 83.

030