The story so far...
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Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Philip started his career with Scottish Opera and then worked at the Wexford Festival, toured with Opera Northern Ireland and appeared in several productions with the English Players. Crossing over into musical theatre, he was in the cast of The Pirates of Penzance and Evita at the Opera House, Manchester and then in the West End he played Gerald Bolingbroke in Me and My Girl, Giuseppe in Budgie, Simeon in the original cast of the Lloyd Webber production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium, and Thénardier in Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre.
Other work includes Great Expectations and Around the World in 80 Days) at the Liverpool Playhouse, Paradise at Nottingham Playhouse, and The Challenge for the Mercury Writers' Workshop. He has since played Charles Guiteau in Assassins at Derby Playhouse and also at the New End Theatre, Hampstead (where he also performed his own show Going to the Lordy; The Life and Trial of Charles Guiteau) Frank Doel in an historic production of 84 Charing Cross Road in the premises of the old bookshop itself, and Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd for Theatr Clwyd. Philip played Vittorio Vidal in the BBC Radio 2 production of Sweet Charity and has also been a guest soloist on Friday Night is Music Night. He was in the cast of the Royal National Theatre's production (and subsequent film) of Oklahoma!, appeared in Hard Times, the Musical with Brian Blessed and Roy Hudd in the West End and he can also be seen in Jesus Christ Superstar on video. He has played Dick Deadeye, Aunty and Sir Joseph Porter in Opera della Luna's HMS Pinafore and toured his own show Get a Life! Get a Life Coach! featuring Violet Sackville-Rhode, a seventies-something widow-turned-life coach. This show, together with Going to the Lordy won him the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Buxton Fringe Festival in 2002. In pantomime he was King Rat (the King of Rock 'n roll) in Dick Whittington at Derby Playhouse, Dame in Robin Hood at Newbury Corn Exchange, King Manypence in Jack and The Beanstalk at Chelmsford and Beelzebub Badegg in Mother Goose at Watford Palace Theatre. He played cameo roles in the Simon Stephens' play Christmas directed by Jo McInnes at the Bush Theatre, London. He has made television appearances in London's Burning, EastEnders, Insiders, Casualty 1909 and Coronation Street and has featured in commericals for BT and La Banca di Roma. He played Harold in Ayckbourn's Communicating Doors and Sowerberry in Oliver! at Perth and then Fagin in the Hereford Courtyard's production of Oliver! directed by Nikolai Foster. In 2006 he appeared as Stoneleigh, Frederick McFidget and The Bishop of Rum-Ti-Foo in The Burglar's Opera - a 'new' Gilbert and Sullivan piece by Jeff Clarke at Opera della Luna and played Buonafede in Haydn's Il Mondo della Luna at the Iford Festival. He played Marcel in the UK tour of Aspects of Love (directed by Nikolai Foster) with David Essex which opened in Newcastle-upon-Tyne September 2007 and ran until June 2008. Following on in the same year, Philip played Bant in The Glee Club by Richard Cameron, at the Library Theatre, Manchester directed by Roger Haines, Frank in Opera della Luna's touring production of Die Fledermaus and appeared in Animal Nights at the Brighton Festival Fringe playing Archie in scenes from Marine Parade by Simon Stephens with music by Mark Eitzel. 2010 he toured with Opera della Luna as Dr Daly in The Sorcerer, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore and the Vicar in The Parson's Pirates. He was also White Van Man giving Tyrone a hard time in an episode of Coronation Street. |
photo: Luke Harman 2015
A regular performer at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, he was King Gama in Princess Ida (2009), Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard (2010 and 2011) Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore (2011) and Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore (2012)
In 2011, he toured with the award winning West Yorkshire Playhouse/Derby Live/Northampton Royal & Derngate production of The Go-Between as Mr Maudsley and later in Dubai playing Fagin in Oliver! at the Madinat Theatre. In 2012 he played Sir Joseph Porter in Opera della Luna's production of HMS Pinafore at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford and then Badegg for the pantomime Mother Goose at Waford Palace. He played Baron Gondremarck in La Vie Parisienne at the 2013 Iford Arts Festival, and then Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore at the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. He returned to Watford to play the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood and was then in Dublin at the National Concert Hall playing Sir Jospeh Porter in HMS Pinafore. Also in 2014 he appeared in Jeff Clarke's Opera della Luna production of Daughter of the Regiment at the Iford Festival and then as Baron Hardup in the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds production of Cinderella. In the three months before Christmas 2015 he could be seen in the Goodbye Unfair Banking commercial for Nat West. In 2015 he played Balthazar in Jonathan Munby's acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare's Globe and was seen as King Philip II in the BBC2 drama/documentary Armada:12 Days to Save England. He was also in an episode of the ABC TV series Galavant. After a year playing Paravicini in the West End production of The Mousetrap (in its 64th year) he was cast in Emma Rice's production of Romantics Anonymous for the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse winter season at Shakespeare's Globe (2017/18) and has just finished the revival of The Daughter of The Regiment at the Buxton Festival and at Wilton's Music Hall in London. During the most extraordinary year of 2020, Emma Rice revived Romantics Anonymous for a week of performances streamed live from the Bristol Old Vic, and Philip was delighted to reprise his roles in this show.  |
