- Margaretta D'Arcy
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Margaretta Ruth D'Arcy Born 1934
LondonKnown for actress, writer, playwright and activist Margaretta Ruth D'Arcy (b. 1934), an Irish actress, writer, playwright, and peace-activist.[1][2][3][4][5] Margaretta is a member of Aosdána since its inauguration and is known for addressing Irish nationalism, civil liberties, and women's rights in her work.[2][3]
Margaretta was born in London to a Russian Jewish mother and an Irish Catholic father.[1] D'Arcy worked in small theatres in Dublin from the age of fifteen and later became an actress.[6] Married in 1957 to English playwright and author John Arden, they frequently collaborate.[7] They settled in Galway and established the Galway Theatre Workshop in 1976.[6] The couple has written a number of stage pieces and improvisational works for amateur and student players, including The Happy Haven (1960) and The Workhouse Donkey. She has written and produced many plays, including “The Non-Stop Connolly Show”.[2]
Margaretta D'Arcy has written a number of books, including Tell Them Everything, Awkward Corners (with John Arden), and Galway's Pirate Women: a global trawl.[8]
Contents
Activism
As an activist she joined Bertrand Russell's anti-nuclear Committee of 100 in 1961.[2]
Jailed in the H-block in Northern Ireland, her book "Tell Them Everything" tells the story of her time during the H-block protests.[2]
Margaretta directed a film Yellow Gate Women, a film about the attempts by women of Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp to outwit the British and United States Military at RAF Greenham Common with bolt cutters and legal challenges.[9]
Challenging censorship, since 1987 she ran a women’s kitchen pirate-radio from her home in Galway.[2]
Affiliations
- Aosdána (member since its inauguration)
- Member of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
- Executive member of AMARC’s Women’s International Network (WIN)
Works
Books
- D'Arcy, Margaretta (1981) [1962] Tell them everything: a sojourn in the prison of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Ard Macha (Armagh) Pluto Press ISBN 9780861043491 http://books.google.com/books?id=KpvaAAAAMAAJ
- D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1988) Awkward corners: essays, papers, fragments London: Methuen ISBN 9780413403407 http://books.google.com/books?id=b8CxAAAAIAAJ
- D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1991) Plays: 1: The Business of Good Government, The Royal Pardon, The Little Gray Home in the West, Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Friday's Hiding, Vandaleur's Folly, and Immediate Rough Theatre Methuen Publishing Limited ISBN 9780413651501 http://books.google.com/books?id=uaoXQwAACAAJ
- D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1996) Galways Pirate Women, a Global Trawl Women's Pirate Press ISBN 9780952820604 http://books.google.com/books?id=0RixAAAACAAJ
- D'Arcy, Margaretta (2005) Loose Theatre: Memoirs of a Guerrilla Theatre Activist Canada: Trafford Publishing & Women's Pirate Press ISBN 1-4120-3376-4 OCLC 62894742 http://www.margarettadarcy.com/loose_theatre.htm
Plays
Her plays include;[10]
- The Pinprick of History
- Vandaleur's Folly
- Women's Voices from W. of Ireland
- Prison-voice of Countess Markievicz
- A Suburban Suicide (a radio play, BBC3, 1995)
- Lajwaad (The Good People, play by Abdel Kader Alloula, adapted by M. D’Arcy for readings in London, 1995); and Dublin (Irish Writers’ Centre, 1996).
Plays devised as group productions include;[10]
- Muggins is a Martyr;
- The Vietnam War-game;
- 200 Years of Labour;
- The Mongrel Fox;
- No Room at the Inn;
- Mary’s Name;
- Seán O’Scrúdu;
- Silence.
Plays written in collaboration with John Arden include;[10]
- The Business of Good Government;
- The Happy Haven;
- Ars Longa Vita Brevis;
- The Royal Pardon;
- The Hero Rises Up;
- The Ballygombeen Bequest;
- The Non-Stop Connolly Show;
- Keep the People Moving (BBC Radio);
- Portrait of a Rebel (RTÉ Television);
- The Manchester Enthusiasts (BBC 1984 and RTÉ 1984 under the title The Ralahine Experiment);
- Whose is the Kingdom? (9 part radio play, BBC 1987).
Films
Films as a director and those produced by Women in Media & Entertainment;[10]
- Yellow Gate Women, 2007. Shown at the Galway Film Fleadh and Independent International Video & Film Festival (New York) [2008].[11]
- Shell Hell, co-directed by Finn Arden, 2005. Shown at Galway Arts Festival, the Stranger than Fiction Festival at the IFC (Dublin) and the Human Rights Documentary Festival (Glasgow).
- Big Plane Small Axe, the mis-trials of Mary Kelly, 2005. Awarded 2nd Prize for Best Feature Documentary at Galway Film Fleadh and also shown at Cork Film Festival, Portobello Film Festival, Human Rights Documentary Festival (Glasgow), and the Irish Film Festival (San Francisco).
- Circus Exposé, 1987. (60 minutes) Shown at Celtic Film Festival (Inverness) and Foyle Festival (Derry).
References
- ^ a b "Margaretta D'Arcy (born 1934)", searcs-web.com, http://www.searcs-web.com/darcy.html, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ a b c d e f "Filmmaker: Margaretta D'Arcy", reframecollection.org, http://reframecollection.org/films/film?Id=1481, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ a b "Margaretta D'Arcy postcard to Bernard McKenna", udel.edu, 1995, http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/html/mss0099_0805.html, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ "John Arden", nndb.com, http://www.nndb.com/people/058/000116707/, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ "John Arden", 4-wall.com, http://www.4-wall.com/authors/authors_a/arden_john/arden_john.htm, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ a b (Bourke 2002, p. 1287)
- ^ "Interview with John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy by Raymond H. Thompson", rochester.edu, http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/intrvws/arden.htm, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ a b "Loose Theatre: Memoirs of a Guerrilla Theatre Activist", feministbook.blogspot.com, http://feministbook.blogspot.com/2007/06/loose-theatre-memoirs-of-guerrilla.html, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ "Yellow Gate Women", reframecollection.org, http://reframecollection.org/filmmakers/filmmaker?Id=1225, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ a b c d e "Margaretta D’Arcy", irishwriters-online.com, http://www.irishwriters-online.com/margarettadarcy.html, retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ "Irish Documentary in New York Festival", filmireland.net, http://www.filmireland.net/tag/yellow-gate-women/, retrieved 4 October 2010
Further reading
- Bourke, Angela, ed. (2002) "Margaretta D'Arcy" The Field day anthology of Irish writing:Irish women's writing and traditions Volume 5 New York: New York University Press ISBN 9780814799079 OCLC 633940969 http://books.google.com/books?id=qZ6W1LiIyYYC&pg=PA1287. Retrieved 4 October 2010
- Marowitz, Simon (1968) [1967], Theatre at work: playwrights and productions in the modern British theatre, New York: Hill and Wang, pp. 36, 53, 57, OCLC 411681, http://books.google.com/books?id=4sG1AAAAIAAJ, retrieved 4 October 2010
- Martin, Seymour-Smith (1986) Macmillan Guide to modern world literature London: Papermac pp. 1396 ISBN 978-0333427941 OCLC 248657649 http://books.google.com/books?id=wsCmQgAACAAJ. Retrieved 4 October 2010
- Chambers, Colin; Prior, Mike (1987) "John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy" Playwrights' progress : patterns of postwar British drama Oxford: Amber Lane Press pp. 20, 96, 146 ISBN 9780906399811 OCLC 17420023 http://books.google.com/books?id=YjBaAAAAMAAJ
- Kershaw, Baz (2002) "Experimentation in the 1960s. The community dramas of John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy" The Politics of Performance:Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention Routledge pp. 9, 92, 95, 98, 106, 107, 109, 124, 249 ISBN 9780203412282 http://books.google.com/books?id=2RoPeMPk8vQC. Retrieved 4 October 2010
- Parker, Peter (1995) The reader's companion to twentieth-century writers (4th Edition ed.) Fourth Estate ISBN 9781857023329 OCLC 468627139 http://books.google.com/books?id=MEsOAQAAMAAJ
- Sinclair, John M.; Wilkes, G. A. (1998) Collins English dictionary Harper Collins ISBN 9780004722184 http://books.google.com/books?id=tTRmQgAACAAJ
- Cork University Press (2002) The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing Vols IV and V: Irish Women's Writing and Traditions Cork University Press ISBN 9781859182819 http://books.google.com/books?id=xnaARAAACAAJ
External links
- "Margaretta D’Arcy". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151475/Margaretta-DArcy. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- Biography at Margaretta D’Arcy website.
- Indymedia Openwire website
- Margaretta D'Arcy at the Internet Movie Database
Categories:- 1934 births
- Irish writers
- Aosdána members
- Irish activists
- Irish feminists
- Living people
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