"The most distinctive, the most restless, the most obsessive imagination at work in the Irish theatre today" Brian Friel Modelled on Oliver Goldsmith’s classic novel The Vicar of Wakefield, Murphy builds a comedy peopled with thieves, pimps, bawds, lechers and imposters who will prey on innocence unless God – or the ruling class – takes a hand. It centres around the downfall of Dr Primrose, who relates the misadventures that have caused his downfall and brought disintegration and ruin on his loved ones.