Tom MacIntyre
- Born
- 1931
- Died
- 2019
- Nationality
- Ireland
- Occupation
- playwright · poet · writer
- Languages
- English
In this article
Key facts
• Name — Tom MacIntyre
• Born — 1931 12 10
• Birthplace — Cavan, Ireland
• Died — 2019 10 31
• Occupation — * Poet
• playwright
• writer
Tom MacIntyre (10 December 1931 – 31 October 2019) was an Irish poet, playwright and writer. Born in Cavan, he grew up in Bailieborough with his four siblings, and briefly worked as a pharmaceutical chemist, before deciding to write.
MacIntyre played as a goalkeeper for the Cavan junior team which won the Ulster Championship in 1957, and reportedly, also played in the same position for the Cavan senior team.
He was a member of the New Writers Press and became a member of Aosdána in 1981.
He taught at Clongowes Wood College and at American universities, among them the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and Williams College, Massachusetts.
Poetry
• Blood Relations: Versions of Gaelic Poems of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1972),
• A Glance Will Tell You and A Dream (1994),
• Ag Caint leis an mBanríon - Coiscéim (1997),
• Silenus na gCat - Coiscéim (1999),
• Stories of the Wandering Moon (2000)
• Tamall Suirí - Coiscéim (2004),
Plays
• Eye Winker-Tom Tinker: 1972, directed by Lelia Doolan at the Abbey Theatre, tells the story of Shooks, an exiled revolutionary leader who returns to galvanise his HQ staff at headquarters with his charm, dynamic force and mystique.
• Jack be Nimble: 1976, directed by Patrick Mason.
• Find the Lady: 1977
• The Great Hunger: 1983, directed by Patrick Mason at the Abbey Theatre of Dublin in 1983–6. The Great Hunger is an adaptation of the Patrick Kavanagh poem of the same name about a farmer named Maguire. Despite the name, the play deals not with Maguire's physical hunger, but rather his spiritual and sensual hunger.
• The Bearded Lady: 1984
• Rise up Lovely Sweeney: 1985
• Dance for Your Daddy: 1987, Abbey Theatre. Daughter, 18, has to say goodbye to Daddy. But the two are so close. Say bye bye - but not yet.
• Snow White: 1988
• Foggy Hair and Green Eyes: 1991
• Sheep's Milk on the Boil: 1994. Somewhere in Ireland's deepest countryside, a couple on the brink of losing their one-time love, are suddenly hurtled through a series of fantastical events conducted by a motley band of spirit-demons, who mercilessly toy with their lives and emotions, throwing them between ecstasy and despair and leaving them both in a thorough state.
• Chickadee: 1992, Red Kettle Theatre Company. Hubert is an older and wiser man, and Julie is younger and more innocent. Their relationship, tender and uncertain from within, is subject to the disapproval of Mom and the resigned acceptance of Dad. Bonzo, Hubert's friend, is the voice of indifferent reason, bemused by Hubert's folly, while Julie's friends, Daphne and Sunniva, offer advice and support as Julie is torn by jealously of the past and uncertainty of the future.
• Fine Day for a Hunt: 1992
• Good Evening, Mr. Collins: 1995, directed by Kathy Mcardle. Fine Day For a Hunt presents a chase. Huntsmen come crashing onto the stage, beagles strain to pick up the scent, spectators lean forward and the commentators give the odds. What is being hunted, however, is a young naked female.
• The Chirpaun: 1997, directed by Kathy McArdle. In the play, John Joe broods on his seventeen-year-old daughter's pregnancy, and who the father could be. Jacinta herself teases him with the identity of who has left her carrying 'the chirpaun'. In despair, John Joe turns to a hypnotist, hoping to find some release from the consuming anger.
• Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire (1998) (winner of the Stewart Parker Prize), directed by Kathy McArdle. The play is a re-telling of the story of Art O'Leary who was killed in the eighteenth century and of the poem said to be composed about him by his wife Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill.
• The Midnight Court: 1999
• The Gallant John-Joe: 2001, which won The Irish Times/ ESB Irish Theatre Best New Play Award in 2002. The Gallant John-Joe is the soliloquy of a Cavan widower grappling with physical and mental infirmity. What keeps him on his feet is his capacity to tell stories, to make a story of anything that moves, using language as a crutch, ointment, talisman, intoxicant. In his stories he introduces us to the characters in his life: Bossman, his well-to-do patronising friend, The Hitmatist; The Chinee; John-Joe O'Reilly, captain of the conquering Cavan team of the late 1940s, and Jacinta, his teenage daughter.
• What Happened Bridgie Cleary: 2005, directed by Alan Gilsenan at the Abbey Theatre. Bridgie Cleary was burned alive for alleged witchcraft in 1895, and in the play, she is reunited in the anteroom of Heaven with her husband and lover.
• Only an Apple: 2009, directed by Selena Cartmell. Fearing the rising star of his ambitious chief whip, the Taoiseach decides to eliminate his rival through the time-honoured means of sex and scandal. His chosen accomplices are Queen Elizabeth I of England and Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen. Arriving in a raucous storm of sexual mischief, the royal guests proceed to wreak merry havoc on the Taoiseach's household, leaving their host with considerably more than he had originally bargained for.
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Tom MacIntyre, revision 1371704060 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record.
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Tom MacIntyre obituary: Playwright who put nation in psychiatrist's chair. The Irish Times.
- 2.Doyle, Martin. President leads tributes to late playwright and poet Tom MacIntyre, 87. The Irish Times.
- 3.Carney, Jim. Why have football and hurling remained a cultural wasteland for our writers and artists?. Sunday Independent. 5 April 2020.
- 4.Information from dustjacket of Tom Mac Intyre's "The Harper's Turn" (1982)
- 5.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Eye-Winker, Tom-Tinker. PlayographyIreland.
- 6.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Jack Be Nimble. PlayographyIreland.
- 7.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Find the Lady. PlayographyIreland.
- 8.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. The Great Hunger. PlayographyIreland.
- 9.Gussoq. Mel. The New York Times. 18 March 1988.
- 10.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. The Great Hunger. PlayographyIreland.
- 11.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Dance for your Daddy. PlayographyIreland.
- 12.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Sheep's Milk on the Boil. PlayographyIreland.
- 13.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Chickadee. PlayographyIreland.
- 14.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Fine Day For A Hunt. PlayographyIreland.
- 15.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. The Chirpaun. PlayographyIreland.
- 16.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. PlayographyIreland.
- 17.Irish Writers Online. Tom MacIntyre.
- 18.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. The Gallant John-Joe. PlayographyIreland.
- 19.Jonathon WIlliams Literary Agency. What Happened Bridgie Cleary. PlayographyIreland.
- 20.Jonathon Williams Literary Agency. Only an Apple. PlayographyIreland.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 29 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
37,093 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Tom LanoyeAuthor
- Tom LeonardAuthor
- Tom LotheringtonAuthor
- Tom Lovatt-WilliamsAuthor
- Tom MalmquistAuthor
- Tom MandelAuthor
- Tom MarshallAuthor
- Tom McGurkAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Tom MacIntyre?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.