Thomas Cornelius Murray (17 January 1873 – 7 March 1959) was an Irish

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

who was closely associated with the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...

. He was born in

Macroom Macroom (; ga, Maigh Chromtha) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns ar ...

, and educated at St Patrick's Teacher Training College in

Drumcondra, Dublin Drumcondra () is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is administered by Dublin City Council. The River Tolka and the Royal Canal flow through the area. History The village of Drumcondra was the central ...

. He worked as a schoolteacher and in 1900 was appointed headmaster of the national school in Rathduff, Co. Cork. His first play, ''The Wheel of Fortune'', was produced by the Little Theatre in Cork in 1909. It was revised and renamed ''Sovereign Love'' in 1913. Murray had co-founded the theatre with Daniel Corkery, Con O'Leary and Terence McSwiney. In 1915, he moved to Dublin as headmaster of the Model Schools at Inchicore, where he remained until his retirement from teaching in 1932. His play ''Birthright'' was performed in the Abbey Theatre in 1910 and established him as a writer of force. In all, he wrote 15 plays, all of which were produced by the Abbey. His two most highly regarded works are ''Maurice Harte'' (1912) and ''Autumn Fire'' (1924). Both of these and ''Birthright'' were performed in New York on Broadway, with ''Autumn Fire'' having a run of 71 performances. Murray also wrote an autobiographical novel ''Spring Horizon'' (1937). With regard to the character of Murray's plays and their writerly impact, Sean O'Casey according to Patrick Maume told Joseph Holloway how "he didn't like to watch Murray's plays because their unrelieved tragedy affected him too deeply; he inserted numerous humorous touches into his own plays as a result". Maume cites Daniel Corkery comparing their different styles "...how Murray often achieves a kind of hidden tension -the very stuff of drama- that Synge only rarely reached and Sean O'Casey knows nothing of". Maume cites the example of Murray's early play 'Maurice Harte' wherein "a clerical student who lacks a vocation is driven mad by the pressure of family expectations". It has been stated both by A. DeGiacomo and by R. Allen Cave that, in the Art competitions at the 1924 Olympics in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

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, Murray was awarded a bronze medal for his play ''Birthright''. However, according to the official record for the games, although Murray was a participant in the literature category with this play and also with ''Maurice Harte'' he did not win a medal.

Plays

*The Wheel of Fortune 1909. *Birthright (two acts) 1910. *Maurice Harte (two acts) 1912. *Sovereign Love (one act) 1913. *The Briery Gap (one act) 1917. *Spring (one act) 1918. *The Serf 1920. *Aftermath (three acts) 1922. *Autumn Fire (three acts) 1924. *The Pipe in the Fields (one act) 1927. *The Blind Wolf 1928. *A Flutter of Wings 1930. *Michaelmas Eve (three acts) 1932. *A Spot in the Sun 1938. *Illumination (two acts) 1939.

References

Print *R. Allen Cave (Ed.) - ''Selected Plays of T.C. Murray'' (Colin Smythe, 1998) *DeGiacomo, Albert J. - ''T.C. Murray, Dramatist, Voice of Rural Ireland'' (Syracuse University Press, 2003) *Igoe, Vivien - ''A Literary Guide to Dublin'' (Methuen, 1994) *Murray, Thomas C. - ''Spring Horizon, A Novel'' (T. Nelson & Sons, 1937) ASIN: B00177YTFM

External links

*
T. C. Murray at Ricorso
Patrick Maume's 'Life that is Exile'. {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, T. C. 1873 births 1959 deaths Abbey Theatre Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish male dramatists and playwrights Irish schoolteachers Alumni of St Patrick's College, Dublin People from Macroom Olympic competitors in art competitions