Sheila Martin
from The Glastonbury Tarot
Actress
Stage director
Performing arts teacher
Feature writer
Events organiser
Articles:
• An Actress Prepares...
• Rehearsing Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth photo album
• In Search of a Miracle
• The Day the Roof Blew off the
Theatre, and Other Thespy Tales
• Michel and the Chicken's Passing
Other activities:
Acting – Theatre of the Soul
Course in Glastonbury starting September
Glastonbury Symposium
An annual international conference on
Crop Circles and Signs of Our Times
sheila06@btopenworld.com
www.palden.co.uk/sheila/
01458-834576 (+44-1458-834576)
16 Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8DB, UK
Sheila grew up in Northumberland. She trained as a Stage Manager and worked in repertory theatre and telly (Ennerdale Farm and Countdown) for several years. A major turning-point for her was the ISA training in Leeds.
A brief sojourn in the Dordogne, France, looking after ducks, geese and chickens was followed by a sojourn in London's West End, working for the impresario Bill Kenwright on such productions as Dancing at Lughnasa and in theatre contracts. A shortage of grass and trees and an awareness of her growing weirdness led, in a roundabout way, to ending up in Glastonbury in 1993 - "the only place where I've not felt eccentric". Here she taught drama at the local Strode College for a while, directing big productions in the 400-seater theatre, finding a particular talent for children's shows - or, to put it another way, drawing out the magic for kids of all ages. Her son, Tulki, was born in 1996 at home, on the living room floor (deliberately!) and in 1998 she gave up 'proper' work to be with him more.
She lives with Tulki and his dad, Palden Jenkins, in a cobwebby, computerised 350-year old cottage with a fairy garden, under Chalice Hill in Glastonbury. She is currently a student of astrology and Tarot, and one of the organisers of an annual international conference, the Glastonbury Symposium. She has started acting again and played Lady Macbeth at The Merlin Theatre in Frome. She writes feature articles for various periodicals, and assists in a unique fair trade clothing shop called Bishopston Trading.
