Born and brought up in Northern Ireland during the 'troubles', Mary McGuckian completed her formal education in the Republic of Ireland at Trinity College Dublin, where she took a degree in engineering. During this time that she became involved with 'Trinity Players', appearing in over 30 productions as well as producing, designing, directing and even lighting various others. She is remembered for her ability to juggle a demanding under-graduate lecture and exams schedule with full-time theatre commitment.
Her interest in theatre and politics led her to follow an autodidactic post graduate education in literature, theatre, acting and directing on various courses in London, Paris and Italy. During which time she wrote a number of avant-garde plays and movement pieces which were variously produced in England and Ireland. Most acclaimed was probably her long-running stage adaptation of Brian Merriman's poem, The Midnight Court.
Returning to Ireland, she continued to work as an actor and playwright until invited to write screenplays by various producers in the emergent Irish film industry of the early 1990s. At this point, she set up her own company, Pembridge Productions, to develop and produce feature film projects. The company was active as a co-producer on many Irish feature films and also produced three pictures which she wrote and directed. Words Upon The Window Pane, (adapted from the play by WB Yeats), This Is The Sea, (an adaptation of her own play 'Hazel' and Best, (the life story of Northern Irish footballer George Best); all essentially Irish subjects rooted in her cultural heritage.
In 2001, she established Pembridge Pictures in the UK to develop and finance a slate of pictures for a long-term international production strategy by accessing UK tax-incentive based funding in co-production with treaty partners of the UK such as the EU treaty countries and Canada. The first of these to commence principal photography was her adaptation of the Thornton Wilder classic, The Bridge Of San Luis Rey, delivered in May 2004, which shot in Spain.
Her recent project and feature film, The Price of Desire (2014), is now in post production. 'The Price of Desire' (2013/2014) is the story of the inception of 20th century Architecture.
To accompany the film is The Eileen Gray Project (2014/2015), which encompasses her feature film, The Price of Desire, a companion documentary Gray Matters by Marco Orisini, a series of limited edition Eileen Gray Project Portrait Prints by Julian Lennon to roll out across 2015 with various other projects designed to bring the life and work of Eileen Gray to the public's attention.
