Northern Irish dramatist Stewart Parker (1941-1988) wrote plays typically
valued for their wit, intellectual content, and formal experimentation.
Nonetheless, he was profoundly influenced as a young man by a very
different sort of playwright. Sam Thompson (1916-1965), who began his
working life in the Belfast shipyards, squarely confronted Northern Irish
sectarianism in his plays. His sense of the political potential of drama left
an enduring mark on Parker, who organized and edited Thompson’s
manuscripts several years after his untimely death. Although their dramatic
writings bear little resemblance to each other, the two writers should be
regarded as united in a common Northern Irish dramatic tradition by
virtue of their shared socialist outlook, belief in the importance of individual
stands against conformity, and sense of theatre’s social mission.
