Robin Phillips

He was born in Haslemere, Surrey in 1940{{cite news|last=Morrow|first=Martin|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/canadian-stage-greats-have-actor-director-robin-phillips-to-thank/article25809583/|title=Canadian stage greats have actor, director Robin Phillips to thank|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=31 July 2015|quote=(not 1942, as most biographies indicate). According to Joe Mandel, Mr. Phillips’s long-time partner, the incorrect date was listed on his first British passport and remained on the records thereafter.}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/theater/robin-phillips-director-who-revitalized-canadas-stratford-festival-dies-at-75.html?_r=0|last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=2 August 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Robin Phillips, Director, Dies at 75; Revitalized Canada's Stratford Festival}} to Ellen Anne (née Barfoot) and James William Phillips.[http://www.filmreference.com/film/40/Robin-Phillips.html Robin Phillips profile at FilmReference.com]{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-109899|title=Phillips, Robin (1940–2015), director, designer, and actor|website=oxforddnb.com|year=2019|language=en|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.109899|access-date=2019-10-11|last1=Jennings|first1=Alex|isbn=9780198614128}} He trained at the Bristol Old Vic, where a contemporary was Patrick Stewart, and worked as an actor and director for many years in the United Kingdom, finishing as artistic director at the Greenwich Theatre from 1973 to 1975.

He was hired as artistic director at the Stratford Festival in Canada in 1975, where he spent six seasons directing many productions and cultivating new talent. Maggie Smith, Richard Monette, Martha Henry and Brian Bedford, among others, were prominently featured during his tenure, and many of his Shakespearean, classical, and contemporary productions won widespread acclaim.[http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Robin%20Phillips Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia]Maurice Good. "Every inch a Lear": a rehearsal journal of "King Lear" with Peter Ustinov and the Stratford Festival Company, directed by Robin Phillips. Sono Nis Press, 1982. {{ISBN|978-0-919203-26-6}}{{cite web|title=Stratford Gold: Robin Phillips revitalizes Stratford|url=https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1464491829|publisher=CBC Digital Archives|access-date=4 April 2019|year=2002}} Includes 24min video.{{cite web | url =https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/8910 | title = Robin Phillips directing credits | website = Stratford Festival Archives | access-date = 2019-06-03}} In a review of Phillips' 1977 Stratford production of Richard III with Bedford in the title role, The Globe and Mail theatre critic John Fraser wrote: "The production Phillips has mounted is stunning, crackling with nuances and details that are spellbinding, while radiating an over-all economy of dramatic management that demands an intense involvement from any audience".{{Citation|last=Fraser|first=John|title=Richard III: dark byways of the soul|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=10 June 1977|page=16}} Veteran Stratford actor and director William Hutt compared Phillips to earlier artistic directors by saying: "With Guthrie, the heartbeat of a production was loud, obvious, robust and healthy. With Langham, rhythmic, predictable and safe. With Gascon it ran fast; you suspected high blood pressure. With Phillips the heartbeat is thunderingly silent: it’s the audience’s hearts you hear beating”.{{Citation|last=Cobb|first=David|title=The master of Stratford|newspaper=Macleans|date=30 May 1977|page=34|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1977/5/30/the-master-of-stratford|access-date=3 June 2019}}

Phillips' energy seemed boundless during his time at the Stratford helm. He directed 36 productions in six seasons (his predecessor Jean Gascon directed 17 productions in seven seasons), and the company, audience, and overall scale of the organization grew considerably.{{cite AV media | date = 10 August 1997 | title = Dialogue: Robin Phillips | url = https://www.tvo.org/video/archive/robin-phillips | access-date = 11 June 2019 | publisher = TV Ontario }} But the workload took its toll: exhaustion was cited as the primary reason for his departure when he resigned during the 1980 season.Martin Knelman, A Stratford Tempest. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982, 240 p. {{ISBN|978-0-7710-4542-4}} He would later become artistic director at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario and return to Stratford to direct the Young Company in 1987–88. He was also director general at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton from 1990 to 1995.

He directed a musical version of Jekyll & Hyde (1997) on Broadway (winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for his contribution to the scenic design); Long Day's Journey into Night in London's West End in 2000; and a stage version of Larry's Party at Canadian Stage and the National Arts Centre in 2001.

Phillips was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005.{{cite web |title=Order of Canada |website=The Governor General of Canada

|url=http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=10661&t=12 |access-date=13 March 2017}} The citation read, in part, "Robin Phillips is revered amongst members of Canada's acting community. ... A tremendous asset to the cultural life of Canada, he is also credited with bringing new life to the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and to theatres across the country."

In 2010, Phillips received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.{{cite web|title=Robin Phillips biography|url=http://ggpaa.ca/award-recipients/2010/phillips-robin.aspx|publisher=Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation|access-date=11 February 2015}}

Phillips died in his sleep on 25 July 2015, after a prolonged illness.{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/robin-phillips-former-head-of-stratford-festival-dead-at-73-1.3168217 | title=Robin Phillips, former head of Stratford Festival, dead at 73 | publisher=CBC News | date=26 July 2015 | access-date=26 July 2015 }} He was survived by a younger sister, Hilary, and by his partner, Joe Mandel (1936–2023), whom he first met in 1962 but who became his partner in 1971.Obituary for Robin Phillips in The Guardian - 30 July 2015

Though none of his stage productions were captured on film, Phillips is featured in the documentary Robin and Mark and Richard III, in which he guides veteran TV actor Mark McKinney through some key scenes in Shakespeare's Richard III. Its creators Susan Coyne and Martha Burns had both been directed and mentored by Phillips earlier in their careers, and wanted to capture some of his technique coaching McKinney, a Shakespeare novice. The film was released in 2016, shortly after Phillips' death.{{cite web|title=Review: ROBIN AND MARK AND RICHARD III|url=http://slotkinletter.com/2016/04/review-robin-and-mark-and-richard-iii|access-date=15 April 2018}}{{cite web|title=Doc screening features Canadian theatre & TV legends|url=https://finearts.uvic.ca/research/blog/2017/09/12/doc-screening-features-canadian-theatre-tv-legends|access-date=15 April 2018}}

• Doctor Who The Keys of Marinus (1964) - Altos
• The Saint (1 episode, 1965) - Nigel Perry
• Broome Stages (6 episodes, 1966) - Robin Broome
• The Avengers (1 episode, 1966) - John Pettit
• The Forsyte Saga (1967) - Wilfred Desert
• Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher (1968) - Paul Pennyfeather
• Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969) - Roddy Pater
• David Copperfield (1970; TV) - David Copperfield
• Un estate con sentimento (1970) - Mark Faulkner
• Tales from the Crypt (1972) - James Elliot (segment 3 "Poetic Justice") (final film role)

• The House of Bernarda Alba [stage] (1973)
• Miss Julie [television] (1974)
• The Wars [film] (1983)

{{reflist}}

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• [https://theatricalia.com/person/3vq/robin-phillips Robin Phillips] at Theatricalia
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430172526/http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20070627.shtml |date=30 April 2008 |title=Radio interview with Phillips in 2007 following the death of William Hutt }} (2007/06/27). The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from [http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20070627.shtm the original] on 2008-04-30.
• [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=13797 Robin Phillips] (Aveleyman)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do84tPNMXco&index=6&list=PLC6886AD7DB126845 Interview] with Stratford Festival costumer Cynthia MacLennan on working with Phillips (Theatre Museum Canada).

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Category:1940 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English film directors

Category:English theatre directors

Category:Officers of the Order of Canada

Category:Film directors from Ontario

Category:Canadian theatre directors

Category:People from Haslemere

Category:Canadian gay actors

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Category:British gay actors

Category:English emigrants to Canada

Category:Canadian artistic directors

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