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| The Martin French Page Martin was born in rural Ireland (the thriving metropolis of Wexford to be exact) sometime in the mid seventies but has since escaped to the relative urban calm of the general Drumcondra/ Glasnevin corner of North Dublin. His main reason for this relocation was the prospect of college and all the fun and such that that entails. The particular college in question (the fun thing never quite worked out) was St. Patrick's Drumcondra, wherein a BA in English and Human Development, followed by an English MA in Theatre Studies were pursued with some degree of success. A lenghty run in student unionism (bloody students and their bloody politics) also ocurred, on local, national and international levels, however some feelings of disillusionment still linger about those particular experiences. Ten years after enrolling, Martin still operates in Pat's, although now he is a member of the staff: a former tutors to first year English students and also the first ever theatre technician in the history of the college. Martin is chiefly a theatrician and has been deeply involved in numerous stage productions since c1994, especially in the areas of lighting and off stage work in general. In terms of stage managment and productions, not to mention lights and various other tasks, Martin has worked on countless productions with various production companies, including several different colleges' DramaSocs, Danse Macabre, Purpleheart, The Dublin Shakespeare Company, Iomha Illdanach and Lightening Productions. He has also worked on a couple of Youth Activist Festivals in Yugoslavia and various other projects in various other countries. Some of the highlights of Martin's career to date include working on several Fringe Festival shows in Dublin, stage managing The Government Inspector wih Danse Macabre, and working with a host of international groups in Novi Sad, most notably the renouned Siberian feminist version of Waiting For Godot. In terms of writing, Martin has written two award winning plays, one of which (Frankie Ryan/ An Strainseir) went on to translation into some obscure, little known language called Irish, and won the Oireachtas Naisiunta. More recently, his version of Dracula found acclaim and success when staged in St. Pat's. After that, Hamlite, a variation of Hamlet, had a more subdued reception but was nevertheless well received by those who saw it. A number of screenplays also exist, though none have made it to the filming stage as of yet. Most notable among these works is the short film, The Grey Man, a project written under the fold of CherryPie Productions and part of the inspiration for Grey Man in Admonition. Martin is currently working on plans for two upcoming tales; the first dealing with the life of a stage janitor, the other based on Grimm's Fairy Tales. Martin's directorial work (apart from directing traffic, ha, ha...I'll get me coat) has seen productions of Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Ibsen's The Pretenders, an improvised version of Sopholces' Oedipus Rex entitled Oedipus: A Context, Dracula and Hamlite. He has not, as of yet, had a chance to direct for video or film but would be interested in attempting it at some stage in the future. Key concerns for Martin include cheap drugs, cheaper booze and free women...eh, oh sorry, that should go in Andy's bio. Let us start again. Key concerns for Martin include the environment, social justice, the place of the author or artist within his or her work, the conception of pretence/ playing and the unseen (note, he does not include college students with poor attendence records in this last category). While Martin is intrigued by cinema and the filmic image in general, he is at heart a great big hairy freak, or as we like to call him, a theatrical devotee. In the future, Martin hopes to be able to more fully incorporate his stage interests and expertise into film work, and vice versa. Back to home |
| Last updated 29 May 2003 |
| Some sites that Martin recommends you visit: The Internet Movie Database The best place on the net to search for film info Martin's favourite search engine The Academy of American Poets Not as strong as the individual poets' sites but a great overview Women Writers For the literary feminists out there The Spark A great way to spend a free hour is to do some of their tests The Onion Irreverent and bitter (and big fans of George Bush too- says it all really) U.S.I. Martin's former place of employment, where some people do some good things (some of the time) |
