Librettist

Mark O'Halloran

Trade / Mary Motorhead

Biography

Mark O’Halloran is a writer and actor from the west of Ireland. On screen he has appeared in numerous films, most notably as one of the eponymous heroes in ADAM & PAUL (which he also wrote), and the lead role of MP in History’s Future directed by Fiona Tan. He also appeared in Shane Meadow’s Channel 4 drama, The Virtues, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the IFTA Awards 2020. Upcoming projects include the feature film, The Miracle Club, alongside Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, and Laura Linney. He will also be appearing in the Oliver Hermanus directed TV drama Mary & George, playing Sir Francis Bacon alongside Julianne Moore. Mark has recently appeared in Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan at The Almeida theatre, London.

Writing credits include: The films GARAGE and ADAM & PAUL, the television series PROSPERITY, Viva a Spanish language feature set in Havana, Cuba, and Rialto which premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. His television work includes Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends. His work has been seen at Venice, Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Telluride and Sundance film festivals. For the stage he wrote the play TRADE, contributing text to the award-winning LIPPY, co-wrote Beckett’s Room for Dead Centre at The Gate Theatre. In 2021 he wrote and premiered two new plays, Conversations After Sex at the Dublin Theatre Festival, (which won Best New Play at the Irish Theatre Awards 2022), and a stage adaptation of Bergman’s The Silence at the Stadsteater in Göteborg, Sweden. He also wrote the libretto for the opera adaptation of TRADE, composed by Emma O’Halloran, which premiered at New York’s PROTOTYPE festival and transferred to LA Opera. 

July 2024