About

John is an actor, writer and maker of film and theatre.

Film and television acting work includes the lead role in the award winning feature Locus Of Control, Wolfwalkers, The Hurler, Gloaming, Where The Wild Things Go, Old Fangs, Love/Hate and various other bits and bobs.

He is the writer of the critically acclaimed TV series Dead Still for Deadpan Pictures, for which he won an Edgar Award for Best TV Episode Teleplay and was nominated for an IFTA.

For the screen, he’s written and directed the short films Hot Water Bottle, Daffney Molloy And Other Catastrophes and Two Cats. Other short films he’s written include Seanie & Flo (Audience Choice Award, Chicago Irish Film Festival 2020. Deadpan Pictures), Kathleen (Best Screenplay – Waterford Film Festival. Paradox Pictures) and Swerve (Best Short Film – Underground Film Festival 2015. Mycrofilms). He also wrote and directed Smitten for RTÉ Storyland. He was also a writer and director of the web and radio detective serial Vultures.

Work in development includes the feature screenplays The Kudome Valentine (Blue Ink Films) and Pillgate (Newgrange Pictures) as well as the TV series Nest Of Heretics (Kennedy Films), The Continental Method (with Victor Lockwood) and a TV adaptation of The Roaring Banshees (with Peter McGann) for Deadpan Pictures.

For the stage he has written the plays Denouement (Lyric Theatre), Taboo (White Label), War Of Attrition, Scratcher, Smitten and Heart Shaped Vinyl (Devious Theatre). He also co-wrote The Hellfire Squad and The Roaring Banshees with Peter McGann and they are currently writing the final part of their Irish historical trilogy entitled The Folklore Commission. He wrote the adaptation of Thomas Kilroy’s novel The Big Chapel (Asylum/Abbey Theatre/Kilkenny Arts Festival) which was nominated for Best Production at the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2020. Other writing for theatre includes Grizzly as part of Home Theatre Ireland (Dublin Theatre Festival), Bridge Street Will Be (Asylum/Equinox) and part of Mass by The LSA (Dublin Fringe Festival). His plays for young audiences include Don’t Shoot The Messenger, Grimm Fairytales and Andersen’s Fairytales.

Writing for radio includes Tenterhooks (Near FM), 100 Everyday Menaces (RTÉ Drama On One, IMRO Award Winner 2018), The First Puck (CRKC, GAA McNamee Award Winner) and an adaptation of The War Of The Worlds (KCLR/Devious Theatre, IMRO Award Winner 2009).

Previous directing work for the stage includes The Last Trip To Tipp by Gemma Creagh as part of Bench Tales (Barnstorm Theatre Company/Kilkenny Arts Festival), The Definitive View With Sneachta Ní Mhurchú (Brownbread Mixtape/Dublin Fringe Festival), Fishes (Bewleys Café Theatre), The Centre Of The Universe (Dublin Fringe Festival/Show In A Bag), The Union, Heart Shaped Vinyl, Phantasm (Devious Theatre).

He is a founding member of Devious Theatre in Kilkenny and White Label in Dublin.

John is represented by Rochelle Stevens.

Writing about John Morton in the third person is a necessary evil.