The self-described ‘wobbly’ comedian is returning to her first love, acting, with a hard-hitting play about the collision of disability and austerity
Francesca Martinez was three years old when she knew she wanted to spend her life on stage. Best known for her standup, Martinez never planned on becoming a comedian – the original dream was to act, she says.
Martinez, 44, is sitting outside London’s National Theatre, sipping from a water bottle. After a 22-year detour as an award-winning comedian who is volubly “wobbly” (the word she uses to describe her cerebral palsy), she has been delivered back to her first love. She is performing a leading role in the National’s All of Us, directed by Ian Rickson, which also marks her playwriting debut. On a break from rehearsals, she is feeling relaxed. “I like a new challenge,” she says, petite and bright-eyed. “But,” she adds, her voice rising to raucousness, “childhood Francesca would be so flabbergasted that I’m doing this … as an actor!”
