Martin Cort trained at LAMDA with fellow students
Janet Suzman and Donald
Sutherland in the 1950s. He has extensive
experience as director, actor and writer. He has worked
in many of the leading venues in the UK.
DIRECTING
Martin Cort's directing career
was inspired by his work with author Rumer
Godden, with whom he presented The
Around Readers (TAR) poetry
programmes for a number of years, reaching audiences throughout
Britain and for the British Council in
Malta.
Dear Mr Kennedy
Sarah Thomas
As well as the TAR series
of poetry programmes, Martin directed I
Love You, I Love You, I Love You, This
Year, Next Year, and three pantomime productions for the London
Borough of Camden - Cinderella, Puss
in Boots and Dick Whittington.
Martin Cort's
other directing work includes the acclaimed production of Marivaux's Dangerous
Liaisons at the Pentameters
Theatre in
Hampstead. He also produced and directed the premiere production
of Mary
Rensten's intriguing mystery play, Dear
Mr Kennedy, at the Hen & Chickens
Theatre, Islington, with a cast headed by Sarah
Thomas (Last of the Summer Wine).
Most recently, Martin
Cort directed the Actors
& Writers London reading of Misanthrope
II, Paddy
Gormley's
"mistranslation" of Le Misanthrope. Martin
Cort is actively seeking a prodcution of this exceptional script: "Gormley's
mastery of language shines out from every page".
Click on the image on the right for
the Misanthrope II website, which includes Martin
Cort's audio
introduction to the play and features excerpts from the rehearsed
reading.
Other recent directing work includes The
Best Laid Plans by Carolyn Pertwee at Soho
Theatre, and Hard Times,
the pilot episode of radio sitcom Poet's
Corner by Paddy Gormley.
(Click on the image on the left for click-to-play audio clips
on the Poet's Corner website.)
Martin Cort directed the first theatrical
performance in the newly restored lecture theatre of the Royal
Institution of Great Britain in June 2008, for the Society
of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ)
.
The programme (above) included his short play, Surprise
Bundle, performed by Robin Marchal and Liz
Felton.
Dr Who
l-r: Martin Cort,
Christopher Coll, Terry Scully, Harry Towb
ACTING
Martin Cort has made countless appearances on television and
stage.
For the BBC, he played various characters in Doctor
Who, Dixon
of Dock Green and General Hospital. ATV work includes Tempo,
No Hiding Place, Crossroads and Once
Upon a Time. Other
television includes Boyd QC (Rediffusion), Rogues
Gallery (Granada)
and Tonight (Thames).
Martin Cort's London appearances include Theatre
Royal Haymarket,
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Royal
Festival Hall and Royal
Opera House.
Click on the image on the right to
hear Martin Cort perform Sea
Change (or The Truth about the Owl
and the Pussycat), by Paddy Gormley.
His latest theatre roles include
Mr Hope in A Game of Love at Teatro
Technis. Also at Teatro
Technis, he played the witty, sarcastic Dr Taven, Professor
of Philosophy, in Seven Screams at Sea, a
suspense drama by Spanish writer Alejandro
Casona. He won great acclaim for his performance
as Sir Simon de Canterville in The Canterville
Ghost in Canterbury in 2006 (picture above left).
Click on the image on the left to hear Martin
Cort perform The Politician by Peter
Sellers.
A
Game of Love
l-r: Martin Cort and Mark Collison
WRITING
Martin Cort's writing work began
with three pantomimes (which he also directed) for the London
Borough of Camden - Cinderella, Puss
in Boots and Dick Whittington.
His Marivaux adaptation, Love
Is a Game of Chance, was
premiered at Actors & Writers London.
Martin Cort's latest play, Death
on the Doorstep, received its first performed reading
by Actors & Writers London in
November 2007, under the direction of Peter
Kosta.
MEMBERSHIPS
Martin Cort is the Director of The
Around Readers, a member of Actors
& Writers London, the Concert
Artistes' Association and an Associate Member of the Society
of Women Writers and Journalists.
