Murphy in performance
The Gigli Concert at the Abbey Theatre in 1983 and 1991
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21721916 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Naoko Yagi (Waseda University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 98-115 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Theatre and Performance (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-2761 • E-ISSN: 2040-0616 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14682761.2025.2540180 |
| OpenAlex | W4414020469 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
Tom Murphy was a leading dramatist in Ireland in the latter half of the twentieth century. The excellence of Murphy’s work, according to Nicholas Grene (Citation2018), is found in performance rather than in the text. This essay focuses on two of the Abbey Theatre productions of The Gigli Concert, a Murphy play which that theatre premiered in 1983. I analyse videos of a performance in the premiere production and that in the production from 1991. Patrick Mason directed both productions, with Tom Hickey starring in them. The videos form part of the Abbey Theatre Digital Archive at the University of Galway. My analysis centres on the audio element of each production, namely, actors/characters’ verbal and non-verbal utterances, recorded arias sung by Beniamino Gigli, and a variety of sound effects. I show that, by embracing Murphy’s play-text as if it was written music, Mason and his teams turned each production into what I call a ‘concert,’ where all the parts in the audio element would reach the audience’s ear in concert with one another. The essay thus agrees with Grene’s observation above and suggests that any successful production of the play will have been a ‘concert.’
| Highly cited | No |
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