Playboy of the Western World is a three act play written by John Millington Synge . It was first performed in Dublin in 1907 and concerns a young man who has run away from his farm because he claims he has killed his father. The locals he meets in the pub are more interested in the grisly details of the story than the immortality of murder. This play although set over a century ago might be of particular interest to a contemporary audience because of the present fascination with celebrity that has led to gossip magazines based entirely around the often salacious details of these peoples' lives with little or no concern for the human aspect of the "story".