"Violent Families": A Whistle in the Dark and The Homecoming

Abstract

In September 1961, Tom Murphy's play A Whistle in the Dark opened at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London. The following month, it transferred to the West End. In June 1965, the Royal Shakespeare Company produced Pinter's The Homecoming at its then-home in the West End, the Aldwych Theatre. In July 1989, the Abbey Theatre's 1986 revival of A Whistle in the Dark opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London. According to Fintan O'Toole's preface to a collection of Murphy's plays, including this work, published to coincide with the Royal Court performances, Harold Pinter ... used it as a direct model for The Homecoming.' So it would seem. So, indeed, it did seem to several friends and colleagues who recommended that I see the Royal Court production, as it also did to me when I saw it. Reinforcing this impression was the cast list of the 1961 production, printed in the Royal Court's program and in the published edition of the play, since the first cast included the late Patrick Magee, who was a friend of Pinter's.2