Bøger af Tom O'Brien

A play with music about the travelling musicians of Ireland, mostly concentrating on Pecker Dunne and Margaret Barry. They were both from travelling families, Tinkers, and were marginalised by Irish society. Looked down on, indeed persecuted for their way of life. Both were great singers and musicians, and along with the great Johnny Doran, did more to promote Irish traditional music than almost any other person of our times. Both are dead now and the play is set in a kind of imaginary 'halting site', where departed souls are temporarily resident while awaiting transport to somewhere permanent.

NO BLACKS, NO DOGS, NO POLES is about the dysfunctional Kennedy clan, who are having a re-union. There's the father, Con, a successful building contractor in London who has had to relocate back in Ireland because of tax irregularities in the UK; his long- suffering wife, Marion; his estranged son, Michael, who turns up after five years in Australia with Cathy, his new aborigine wife. And not forgetting his racist nephew, Jimmy, who hasn't mellowed any as he has got older. BRENDAN BEHAN'S WOMEN... the play is set in the bar of the Chelsea Hotel in New York in 1963 and Beatrice Behan has come over from her home in Dublin to have it out with Brendan, concerning rumours he is having an affair with Valerie Danby-Smith and is about to divorce her

A story of paradoxes of morality and behaviour, Cassidy's Cross gives a kaleidoscope view of the fictional area of Doonbay in 1960's County Waterford. The picture is fractured and tangled, with petty crime, affairs, illicit pregnancy, rape and murder among the happenings. Set against the backdrop of a spent copper-mining area, the story unfolds to reveal a hotbed of secrets. The school, church, quarry and the village pub are all focal points of interest, with a bit of cross-roads dancing and a donkey derby thrown in for good measure. Two brothers are the key characters; James 'Ringyboy' Ring, and the older tearaway Johnny who is home from holiday in London. James uncovers a letter which literally has an explosive effect on the citizens. The not so good citizens of Cassidy's Cross

When Bertie Ahern resigned on May 6th 2008 after 11 years as Irish Taoiseach and more than thirty years all told in the corridors of power, it was as a direct result of the fall-out that occurred from the treatment meted out to Irish businessman, Tom Gilmartin, which only emerged in its entirety at the conclusion of the Mahon Tribunal, which had sat for almost 15 years before reaching its conclusions in 2012. Tom Gilmartin had emigrated to Luton in the 1950's from Sligo, and over the years had built up a successful business in construction and engineering, in Luton and South East England. Now a multi millionaire he decided in the late 1980's to invest his experience - and money - in some projects in Dublin, where unemployment was high, and where poverty had once again seen many young Irish people cross the water in the hope of a better life. Tom had ambitious plans for several major retail developments in the city, which he hoped would provide work for hundreds, if not thousands, in the city, but little did he know that in order to do business in Dublin, senior politicians and public officials would want a slice of the action - in large amounts of cash. Embittered and impoverished by his experiences, Tom finally blew the whistle on the corruption at the heart of government and the city's planning system. His complaints resulted in the setting up in 1997, by order of the Oireachtas, of the Mahon Tribunal to look into 'certain planning matters and payments'. Ironically, it was championed by none other than one Bertie Ahern.

Home was at the end of a long, winding boreen in County Waterford in rural Ireland; The Comeragh mountains were a few miles in one direction, the roaring Atlantic ocean a similar distance in the other. Between the devil and the deep blue sea you might say.! The boreen was potholed in winter and overgrown in summer, but it was home - and it possessed my young soul and my growing body.. I grew up there - and bits of me stayed there. In the hedges and furze bushes, in the groves and ploughed fields, in the streams and ponds. This chapbook is a tribute to that happy place of my youth.

Kathy Kirby had everything. A remarkable voice, stunning looks, and was a major TV and recording star in the 1960's. Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe the newspaper headlines constantly screamed. Yet she had walked away from it all by her late thirties, became a recluse and died in poverty. So what went wrong for Kathy Kirby? This play portrays what happens when a star fades and falls to earth

The Shiny Red Honda is about growing up in rural Ireland in the 1950/60's, a time of great rural upheaval and change. The creamery, the horse and cart, cross-road dancing, travelling shows, the threshing machine...all their days were numbered. Going to school across the Mass-Path, thinning turnips for a shilling a drill, watching Audie Murphy and Randolph Scott in films that broke down half-way through every reel, being an Altar boy and 'fiddling' the church collection boxes, learning to dance with a broomstick as a partner...rare memories of an age of innocence. Who flattened Fr. Sinnott in the sacristy? What was the initiation ceremony at Flahavans Mills? Who was the trombone player in the band who couldn't play a note? It is also about dreams and aspirations: a young man's entry into the world of work, and his brief flirtation with the music biz. A story told honestly and uncompromisingly. As it was - warts and all.

67 is the first collection of poems from Irish playwright and novelist Tom O'Brien. Composed in between writing such diverse plays as Money From Zmerica and Johnjo, and books such as Cricklewood Cowboys and The Shiny Red Honda, they span twenty five years, many of them resonant of the time he spent in London

A book of quirky short stories about life in modern Ireland - mostly from those who have left its shores and who are no longer sure where 'home' is.

PUT YOUR SWEET LIPS...set in the summer of 1963, this play tells the tale of the formation of THE YOUNG DEVILS showband. Formed by a group of youths who work in the packing room of the local mill, and beset by rivalries and petty jealousies, the group at last seem to be on the road to success when they are joined by a new female lead singer from London. Sandra, however, is more than they bargained for, and after a chaotic concert they fall foul of both the parish priest and the parish council. The ensuing squabbling reveals the skeletons in the various cupboards, culminating in an act of violence that leaves a mark on each of the band members.

FALLING FROM GRACE; Shane McGowan and the Pogues were one of the most honest and original bands ever. It all began in the streets and pubs of London's Kings Cross, where punks, anarchists, artists - both piss and real - and musicians lived together as a community. The Pogues were a bunch of misfits that blazed a trail to huge success without seemingly yrying, and it all eventually blew up in their faces. This is the story of Shane MacGowan's rise and fall...rise and fall...rise.... I'LL TELL ME MA;The Clancy Bros. and Tommy Makem were bigger in the USA in 1963 than the Beatles. Bob Dylan to this day claims that Liam Clancy is the best ballad singer he ever heard. Yet they may never have existed if it wasn't for Diane Hamilton (Guggenheim). She was a wealthy American divorcee with money and influence, and she loved music. In the mid 1950's she toured Ireland, searching for talent for her new record label, and discovered, amongst others, Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem. Liam Clancy found himself in the USA, aged 20, learning the music and acting business, courtesy of Diane - and in between trying to keep Diane out of his bed. Diane was so smitten that she attempted suicide one night, after Liam literally kicked her from of his bed in her house in Connecticut. That was when Liam lit out for Greenwich Village, and the Clancy Bros were born.

Oliver Cromwell landed at Ringsend, Dublin, on the 15th August 1649, with orders to put down the Catholic rebellion. He had the might of the English Parliament and his New Model army behind him, and he was fresh from his success in the English Civil War, where one of his last acts was to oversee the beheading of King Charles. And he believed he had God on his side. He stayed in Ireland a mere nine months, but by then he had already decided there was only one place for the troublesome Papists - Hell or Connaught! We see his journey through Ireland through his own eyes, those of his Puritan soldiers, and of two girls, Emir and Eithne, who, having been captured at the battle of Drogheda, are now being forced to work in the kitchens before being shipped off as slaves to the West Indies. Emir is hiding a big secret; she is a spy for Owen Roe O'Neill's Ulster army, the one great hope of defeating Cromwell. She plans to poison him, little knowing that Cromwell's own agents have a similar plan for O'Neill. When Eithne is raped by one of the Puritan soldiers, both plan to escape and join the defenders at Limerick, where O'Neill's Ulster army is making a last desperate stand.

QUEENIE....is the story of Victoria Dwan (Queenie), who has been institutionalised since an early age. Most of her life has been spent at the mental institution called St Josephs, although in later years she has been living there as a voluntary patient. Now, St Joseph's is coming down and Queenie has been "released" into the community at large. Her first port of call is to revival of the open-air stage-dancing at Granagh Cross, which she remembers from her youth. Her visit brings back to her memories of the tragic events which caused her to lose her sanity - and very nearly her life. Not always able to separate present-day reality from the past, Queenie also possesses second-sight - frightening psychic powers, which, in the past had seen many in the neighbourhood label her a witch.

UnCommon Evil brings you 20 of the most horrifying stories our deviant authors' minds can conceive. From the monster under your bed, to the very real reason for that oily sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, our UnCommon Authors bring you a whole new way of looking at the true nature of evil.

The second collection of poems from Irish novelist and playwright Tom O'Brien. They span twenty years, some of them resonant of his time in London, though many are as fresh as a new coat of paint.

JOHNJO...is the study of a man from the cradle to the grave. Forced to go on the run from his Comeragh hill farm at an early age, Johnjo washes up in Lincolnshire in war-time England. Working on farms, and often finding himself treated worse than the prisoners-of-war, he goes on the run again. And so begins a life-long association with 'the lump' - the dark underbelly of the construction industry. From building motorways and living in camps you 'wouldn't keep a decent dog in', we eventually find him working in London for a 'subby' called Bannaher - not having been home to Ireland for more than thirty years. Disillusioned and bitter at having been ground down by the harshness of his life, he, nevertheless, hangs on to a few sparks of defiance. The final straw comes when he sees his friend (lover?) buried alive in the trench they are working in, and he embarks on a rebellious 'last hurrah'.

MISS WHIPLASH REGRETS...Examines a group of characters whose lives are lived in the seedier, shadier side of London. There's Roger and John, who, in the distant past, had robbed post offices for a living. Roger has 'done his bird', and John is now doing his - as Roger's dogs-body. Roger can't keep his hands off Mona, and she can't keep her hands off his diamonds. His long-suffering wife, Liza, decides she has had enough, and schemes to get her fair share, while there is still some left. Liza teams up with Maddy - John's recently- acquired girlfriend - and they put the shackles on Roger - literally. He is in a situation from which he cannot escape, and they torture him to find out the whereabouts of his considerable stash. Who Maddy really is, and what her true agenda is, only become apparent in the final, dramatic confrontation.

QUEENIE...MONEY FROM AMERICA...JOHNJO...3 plays set in the shadows of the Comeragh Mountains.QUEENIE is a woman who has spent much of her life in mental institutions and has now been released back into the community. She possesses second-sight, frightening psychic powers, which in the past have seen many in the locality label her a witch.MONEY FROM AMERICA tells the tale of two brothers and a farm. Lardy has spent all of his life eking out an existence in the family hill-farm - now brother Jack is back from America to claim his rightful inheritance, which he plans to sell.JOHNJO is the story of a man on the run from rural Ireland, and his struggle to survive amongst the chaos of war-torn England. How long can he stay in the shadows?

Terry, Chris and Larry are three Irish friends in the London of the 1960's with little in common except their liking for 'dishonest work'. Chris is a pickpocket in the West End; the time of the first race determines what time Larry gets out of bed; Terry's aversion to manual labour is so strong that he says 'I'd rather starve than work on the fucking buildings'. Then there is Bannaher, the big man, the 'subby', who is publicising his new pub venture by having a friend of theirs temporarily buried alive in the pub's back garden. 'A charity lie-in', he calls it. Into this mix comes Tessa, blonde, English and 'out to screw the world before it screws me'. Before she is finished all their lives have changed irrevocably.It's a tale of greed and deception that trawls the pubs and building sites of Kilburn and Cricklewood, and the mean street of Limerick.