Tom Murphy talks about where the idea for his play 'The Gigli Concert' came from.
A lifelong interest in music and singing form the background to the play 'The Gigli Concert' by Tom Murphy. The play premiered last year at the Abbey Theatre during the Dublin Theatre Festival to much acclaim.
Tom Murphy acknowledges his own desire to sing as a tenor.
Most plays spring from something autobiographical.
'The Gigli Concert’ is based around the relationship between a successful Irish businessman consumed by his desire to sing like the Italian opera singer Beniamino Gigli and the quack English psychologist who treats him. The Irish man has neglected his spiritual life for years and his mental health has also declined. A third character is in a romantic relationship with the English man also comes into the mix. Tom Murphy explains, they all represent
Feelings within ourselves of beauty, of longing, of desire...the unattainable.
The play is not an intellectual process, but about recreating the feelings of life. What is of most interest to Tom Murphy is the audience reaction, as during ‘The Gigli Concert’,
People were alternately laughing or crying.
This episode of ‘The Live Arts Show’ was broadcast on 9 April 1984. The interviewer is Moya Doherty.
‘The Live Arts Show’ was a monthly arts programme presented by Moya Doherty and John Hutchinson. First broadcast on 17 October 1983 this monthly series featured live coverage of arts events, together with filmed inserts. The programme was produced by Anne McCabe.
