Humans of Frome – Director of the Frome Festival, Martin Dimery

“Today I met a writer, an actor, a musician and then a teacher, I also met the director of the Frome Festival and the part-time programme manager for the Cheese and Grain,” says Ciara Nolan.

“We met in the atmospheric upper floors of the Frome Festival offices. You would imagine that the room was pretty noisy with that many people around the table but it was quite the opposite. The fascinating thing is, that there were only two people in the room, myself and Martin Dimery.

“Martin grew up in Luton back when it was a thriving industrial town. An early discovery of his acting ability led to the young Martin taking up a place in the National Youth Theatre in London alongside Daniel Day Lewis, Tim McInnerny and Nick Frost. He recalls the irony of in later years hearing of Daniel Day Lewis’ Oscar win as he himself cycled into Frome College where he had taken up a position as a Drama Teacher.

“Martin came to Frome in the 1980’s. The town had a great reputation for drama especially through the touring companies who visited The Merlin Theatre and the progressive Drama Studies at Frome College.

“12 years later he left Frome College to teach drama at Millfield School, a role which also saw him running their theatre. In this time he became a playwright, three of his plays were published. He wrote a Kinks musical, entitled ‘Waterloo Sunset’. An attempt was made to secure rights but he found himself on the verge of being sued by media giants and had to take a step back. Disillusioned, he left the theatrical life behind and took up a guitar, a wig and a pair of round spectacles instead.

“Involved in a Yellow Submarine musical production entitled ‘All You Need is Love’ back at Frome College, the band of musicians at its core re-grouped 20 years later to form a Beatles Tribute band ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Only Dart Board Band’.

“Martin wrote a piece about the indignities suffered whilst touring the glamorous venues of old skittle halls and obscure pubs around the country, transforming in dimly lit pub toilets from drama teacher into John Lennon complete with mop top wig and outlandish costumes. The Guardian Newspaper picked up on it and promptly encouraged him to keep a diary. This diary became the bones of his first published book ‘Being John Lennon’.

“Eventually Martin left teaching and took up a position at the fledgling Cheese & Grain venue. He mentions the difficulties faced back then and the brilliant turnaround of late, orchestrated by the new Director Steve MacArthur.

“The final meeting attendee then stepped forward and introduced himself as the Frome Festival Director. He had sat quietly in the background comfortable in the company of and entertained by the colourful and creative characters who had spoken during our discussion. It is this sense of being in the right company that has made Martin the great Festival Director that he is. 9 years have proven that he is exactly the right man for the job.

“On 5th July at the Grain bar as part of the Frome Festival, Martin will perform his self-penned ‘Shakespeare Rattle and Roll’ which he has toured extensively in recent months. This is a rare Frome appearance by the man who generally takes a back seat to bring a week of well programmed entertainment to the town and who generally leads his double life elsewhere.