Sam Thompson (playwright)

Sam(uel) Thompson (21 May 1916 – 15 February 1965) was a Northern Irish playwright best known for his controversial plays Over the Bridge, which exposes sectarianism, and Cemented with Love, which focuses on political corruption.

His works fall into the social realist genre but are distinct in their dramatisation of Northern Irish issues; they were ground-breaking in documenting sectarian violence before the eruption of the Troubles.

[3][4] Over the Bridge finally opened at the Empire Theatre in Belfast on 26 January 1960, directed by Ellis and starring J. G. Devlin, Joseph Tomelty and Harry Towb; Thompson played one of the minor roles.

[9] Ten years after its production, Sam Hanna Bell wrote that "at last the unclean spirit of sectarianism had been dragged before the floodlights and examined with passion, pity and corrosive laughter".

[3] Later critics also consider the play to have been ground-breaking; James McAleavey considers Over the Bridge and the controversy surrounding its staging to be "a landmark in the cultural history of Northern Ireland and ... prophetic of the Troubles to follow;"[5] Michael Parker describes it as "a potent example of a text which illuminates the condition of the culture that frames it" and adds "the story of its reception provides incontrovertible evidence of the unease within the Unionist establishment during this period;"[3] while Lance Pettitt calls the play "a powerful indictment of the failure of labour politics against religious fundamentalism".

After a campaign led by the producer from BBC London, Cemented with Love finally appeared in May 1965 as part of The Wednesday Play series, a few months after Thompson's death.

[4][5] On 26 January 2010, a blue plaque was unveiled at Montrose Street South, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, the location of the house playwright Sam Thompson was born in, on the 50th anniversary of the first performance of his controversial play Over The Bridge.