Margaretta D'Arcy

Margaretta Ruth D'Arcy
Born	1934 London
Known for	actress, writer, playwright and activist

Margaretta Ruth D'Arcy (born 1934) is an Irish actress, writer, playwright, and peace-activist. D'Arcy has been a member of Aosdána since its inauguration and is known for addressing Irish nationalism, civil liberties, and women's rights in her work. In 2014, she was imprisoned after she refused to sign a bond saying that she wouldn't trespass on non-public parts of Shannon Airport. Her arrest was a consequence of trespassing on airport property during protests over United States military stopovers at Shannon Airport.

Margaretta was born in London to a Russian Jewish mother and an Irish Catholic father. D'Arcy worked in small theatres in Dublin from the age of fifteen and later became an actress. Married in 1957 to English playwright and author John Arden, they frequently collaborated. They settled in Galway and established the Galway Theatre Workshop in 1976. The couple wrote 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.

D'Arcy has also written a number of books, including Tell Them Everything, Awkward Corners (with John Arden), and Galway's Pirate Women: A Global Trawl.

As an activist, in 1961, D'Arcy joined the anti-nuclear Committee of 100, led by Bertrand Russell.

Jailed in the H-block in Northern Ireland, her book Tell Them Everything tells the story of her time during the H-block protests.

D'Arcy also 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.

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