The Dark Tower is a 1946 BBC Home Service radio play written, in verse, and produced by Louis MacNeice, with music composed for it by Benjamin Britten.
At the time, he was still badly shaken by the wartime death of a schoolfriend, Graham Shepard,[a] and had what might be termed survivor guilt.
[1] It was introduced as "a parable play on the ancient theme of the Quest, suggested by Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came".
[2] As part of MacNeice's centenary year (2007), Roma Tomelty and Centre Stage Theatre Company, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, presented the radio play with an original score composed and performed by Mark McGrath.
[citation needed] Robin Brooks produced a recreation of the first broadcast performance, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, at Orford Church, Suffolk, as part of the 2017 Britten Weekend.