Martin Paul Roche
Martin Paul Roche is an award-winning actor, director and writer with over forty years’ experience of theatre… and still learning! Following his vocal training he performed with many companies encompassing musical, choral and opera repertoires. These were predominantly in the North of England as a soloist in concert and recital performances as well as for private and corporate engagements.
In June of 2001 he produced and directed his first written work, a musical play entitled ‘To Be Frank’ which was very well received both critically and publicly.
In January of 2003 he wrote and went on to produce the sell-out premiere performance of ‘The Gershwins – the Men and their Music’ at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. This was reprised in a one-night charity performance at The Comedy Store, Manchester in 2006 for the music therapy charity, Nordoff Robins.
In 2010 he premiered and co-directed a new musical, co-written with composer Ian Crabtree, called ‘Witchfinder’. This has now been published and the cast studio recording subsequently produced and released. The premiere won several regional awards including Best Director and Best Book and Script. It has enjoyed a number of successful amateur productions.
He has gone on to write some 30 works which have been performed across the UK and as far afield as South Africa and Australia. He has also published two collections of his plays and an eBook comprising all of his works.
He is a member of the Society of Authors and is exclusively represented by Stagescripts.
Martin is very proud to have been the President of the award-winning Children’s Amateur Theatre Society for over 15 years. He occasionally gets the chance to work with them and maintains that he learns as much from them as he passes on!
In 2009 his work with young people was acknowledged by the Greater Manchester Drama Federation when he was recognised with the Muriel Goodwin Trophy for ‘... an Outstanding Contribution to Youth.’
Despite his background, Martin no longer performs but instead, has focussed for over twenty years on writing, directing, reviewing and (Festival) adjudication. He has also presented numerous workshops on topics ranging from musical theatre presentation to theatrical adjudication.
Her has Adjudicated the Manchester Musicals Awards, the GMDF One Act Play Festival, their Full-Length Festival for several seasons and also the Partington Theatre One Act Play Festival. He is a past judge of the international script writing competition, ‘The Alties.’
He continues to tour his plays using his own company ‘New To You Theatre’, promoting new writing and engaging theatres to open their doors to external work and new faces!
Away from theatre he has spent a lifetime involved with charities and currently serves on the Board of two. In 2025, he was commissioned as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester.
