Voice, Music and Narrative – Martin Julien

Research focus

Nightswimming’s first Pure Research session was at Toronto’s Theatre Centre between April 28 – May 14, 2003.

Martin explored the impact of live vocal on the uses and meaning of narrative within a theatrical context. What exactly can sung music communicate in a theatrical landscape? What functions can live music fulfill with regards to narrative or character meaning in a theatrical setting?

About the researcher

Martin Julien (he/him) has been a professional Canadian actor since the age of ten. Over time, he has also become a playwright, theatre deviser, dramaturg lecturer, and scholar.

He is a co-investigator in Gatherings – Archival and Oral Histories of Performance in Canada, funded as a SSHRC Partnership Grant, and his scholarly work has been published by Canadian Theatre Review, TDR, Stanislavski Studies Journal, Playwrights Canada Press, Cambridge Scholars, Intermission and Routledge. Martin was also the senior co-editor of Playwrights Canada Press’s Theatre Passe Muraille: A Collective History, published in April 2019.

He has been an instructor of acting, theories of acting, play study, devised theatre, audition technique and theatre history at numerous Ontario training academies including Sheridan College, University of Toronto (St. George; Mississauga; Scarborough), Humber College, University of Ottawa, Randolph Academy, Soulpepper Academy, Toronto Film School, and York University. Martin was an associate artist with the Caravan Farm Theatre in Armstrong, B.C. for fifteen years, working as performer/playwright in eleven mainstage productions.

Collaborators and credits

Alex Fallis and Imali Perera, with Nightswimming’s Brian Quirt and Naomi Campbell.