A highly creative and experimental practitioner in theatre, literature, radio & film, who has consistently maintained her standards of integrity; most of her work has been done in the alternative/experimental sector. .

Member of Aosdána since its inauguration.

Member of the World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC), and executive member of AMARC’s Women’s International Network (WIN).

Founder-member & chairperson of Women in Media & Entertainment (WIME), production company for her film work and includes the publisher, Women’s Pirate Press (see below). WIME has consultant status at the United Nations (ESOC).

FILM EXPERIENCE
as Director., Documentaries, produced by Women in Media & Entertainment:

Yellow Gate Women, 2007. (60 minutes)
Shown at –Galway Film Fleadh. Awaiting acceptance from other festivals.

Shell Hell, co-directed by Finn Arden, 2005. (11 minutes)Shown at –Galway Arts Festival. Stranger than Fiction Festival, IFC Dublin. Human Rights Documentary Festival, Glasgow.

Big Plane Small Axe, the mis-trials of Mary Kelly, 2005. (60 minutes)
Shown at –Galway Film Fleadh, awarded 2nd Prize for Best Feature Documentary. Cork Film Festival. Portobello Film Festival, London. Human Rights Documentary Festival, Glasgow. Irish Film Festival, San Francisco

Circus Exposé, 1987. (60 minutes) Shown at –Celtic Film Festival, Inverness. Foyle Festival, Derry. .

Community Films(made for and shown to the community concerned):
The Kirkbymoorside Film 1963, silent, b-&-w, 16mm.
The Unfulfilled Dream Oughterard, Co. Galway, 1971, super-8.
The Corrandulla Film Co Galway, 1973, super-8.
St Bridget’s Place Lower Galway, 1984, 11-hour video documentary

as Script Writer:
Portrait of a Rebel Co-author John Arden. TV documentary directed by Eoghan Harris, RTE 1972

as Actor, 1950s & early 1960s:
“Top Deck”, BFI Experimental Production
“Lady L.”, directed by Peter Ustinov.
“The Prince & the Showgirl”, directed by Laurence Olivier.
BBC TV plays. (“Soldier Soldier” awarded an Italia Prize
Irish and British Government-sponsored Promotional Films about Hygiene, Electricity, and similar issues.

MULTI-MEDIA EXHIBITIONS

as Curator: 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman 1994.

Part of the Platform for Action, UN Women’s Conference, Beijing.
Shown at –The Working Women’s Gallery, Galway, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Philadelphia, USA., London, UK.Belfast,Waterford.

Theatre at Home 2004 Shown at –10 St Bridget’s Place Lower, Galway (Arts Festival).

RADIO as Playwright:

A Suburban Suicide Co-author John Arden. BBC 1995

Whose Is The Kingdom? Nine Parts. Co-author John Arden. BBC 1988.

The Manchester Enthusiasts (aka The Ralahine Experiment) Three Parts. Co-author John Arden. BBC 1984, RTE 1985.

Keep Those People Moving Co-author John Arden. BBC 1972.

As Pirate-Radio Director/Programmer (annual seasons):

Radio Pirate-Women 1990 –for detailed history see below: Published Works (“Galway’s Pirate Women”).Received Katherine Davenport Award for Best News Story of the Year, 2000.

Women’s Sceal Radio 1987 – 1990.

PUBLISHED WORKS
Plays:

THE HAPPY HAVEN Co-authored & included in “Plays: One by John Arden.” (Methuen World Classics, 1994)
* THE BUSINESS OF GOOD GOVERNMENT
* THE ROYAL PARDON
THE LITTLE GRAY HOME IN THE WEST (UK Arts Council Award)
* ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
FRIDAY’S HIDING
* VANDALEUR’S FOLLY
* Immediate Rough TheatreCo-author John Arden. Included in “Plays One by Arden/D’Arcy”(Methuen World Classics, 1991)
WHOSE IS THE KINGDOM? Nine Parts. Co-author John Arden. Radio series (Methuen, 1988)
THE NON-STOP CONNOLLY SHOW Six Parts. Co-author John Arden. (Pluto Press, 1977)
THE ISLAND OF THE MIGHTY Three Parts. Co-author John Arden. (Methuen, 1974)

All the above have been professionally performed in the theatre (e.g. the Royal Court Theatre, London; the Royal Shakespeare Company; 7/84 England, etc.).
* plays directed by Margaretta D’Arcy.

Non-fiction:

LOOSE THEATRE (Women’s Pirate Press / Trafford, 2005)
Armagh Women Song included in ONE VOICE, by Christy Moore (Hodder & Stoughton, 2000)
GALWAY’S PIRATE WOMEN (Women’s Pirate Press, 1996)
AWKWARD CORNERS Co-author John Arden. (Methuen, 1988)
TELL THEM EVERYTHING (Pluto Press, 1981)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Critical and other studies containing reference to M. D’Arcy

THEATRE AT WORK, edited by C. Marowitz & S. Trussler (Methuen, 1967)
GUIDE TO MODERN WORLD LITERATURE, by Martin Seymour-Smith. (Papermac, 1986)
PLAYWRIGHTS’ PROGRESS, by Colin Chambers & Mike Prior (Amber Lane Press, 1987)
THE POLITICS OF PERFORMANCE, by Baz Kershaw (Routledge, 1992)
THE READER’S COMPANION TO TWENTIETH CENTURY WRITERS, edited by Peter Parker. (4th Estate/Helicon, 1995)
COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY (Harper Collins, 1998)
FIELD DAY ANTHOLOGY (Cork University Press, 2002)

Radio:
RADIOTEXT(E), edited by Neil Strauss.(Semiotext(e), Columbia Univ., New York, 1993)
RADIO RETHINK, edited by D. Augaitis & D. Lauder. (Walter Philips Gallery, Banff, Canada, 1994)
WOMEN’S VOICES ON FIRE, by María Suárez Tor(Anomaly Press, Austin, Texas, 1999)o.
WOMEN & RADIO, edited by Caroline Mitchell. (Routledge, 2000)