Name:

Ashley Samuel Dooley Martyn

Profession:

Actor, Sound Designer, Theatre Technician

Hobbies & Interests:

Theatre, Film, Stage Combat, Archery, Fishing, Computers, Paintball, Airsoft.

Bio:

I started going to The Ark when it 1st opened back in 1995, I developed a deep interest in acting & theatre. I started to attend the Gaiety School of Acting, from there I was hooked. I spent several years attending various courses until I was give an opportunity to work as the Sound Operator for the school's Youth Theatre Company show "Sunday Sometime". After the run was completed I knew for definite where my next goal lay.

It may have taken me six auditions before I was accepted but once I was in there was no getting rid of me. I preformed in several shows & two full productions. Ever since working on that 1st show with the company I had started to develop an interest in Sound Design. Once in the company, through accident, we approached our end of year production without a Sound Designer & I was given the job. From that moment on I was the companies soundman, spending my time multitasking both the acting & sound design for the shows. If you came into any of the tech rehersals for the shows you would probably have see me running back & forth from the stage to the sound box. When I reached the age limit of my contract, I had to leave but it wasn't to be a full departure. On leaving the company I was able to fully take on the role of Sound Designer & I have been fortunate enough to remain with the company in this capacity to the present.

During my final year in the YTC, I completed my 2nd Level education & I had the big decision of what I wanted to do in college. My choices on the CAO where quite diverse, I narrowed it down to three possible directions Acting, Computers or Business. I eventually ended up doing a BSc in Computer Applications at DCU which I spend two years in. A lot of my time was actually spent involved with the various clubs & societies I had joined, one of which of course was the Drama Soc. I became there resident stage manager for my 1st year which took me a bit too far away from my labs & studies, as I found myself spending more & more time in the venue or working on the next show.

I also got involved with the Students Union where I got elected to the Chairman of Union Council, which also seem to take me more & more away from my course work as I started to work on their events. By the end of the year I was know by a lot of people for all my social activities. After my 2nd year of pretty much the same activity with more effort put into my studies & less into the drama society, I realised that despite having an interest in computers I always kept getting sucked back into acting & the theatre. I decided to change tact & go into being a freelance technician.

So the rest is what they call history, I'm floating around doing work here & there, even a bit of bartending. Although it seems that I haven't been able to escape anything that has gotten me to this point. I'm still working events in DCU, as I said I'm still the YTC's Sound Designer & The Ark hasn't been able to get rid of me either. If you interested in some of the work I have done just have a look here.