Former Head of Stratford Festival, Robin Phillips Has Died

BroadwayWorld learned earlier today and reported of the passing of Robin Phillips, the former head of the Stratford Festival. Phillips passed away yesterday, July 25, following a prolonged illness. He was 73. The festival has release a statement mourning the death of Phillips, which is included below:

The Stratford Festival is in mourning today for Robin Phillips, who served as its artistic director for six seasons. Besides bringing to the Festival such celebrities as Maggie Smith and Peter Ustinov, as well as one of its most beloved long-time stars, Brian Bedford, Mr. Phillips galvanized the company - and enthralled audiences - with his own extraordinary talent and energy. His tenure, which lasted from 1975 to 1980, is still fondly remembered by many as a "golden age."

"Robin Phillips was inspirational," said current Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. "Like so many people at the Stratford Festival, I was profoundly influenced by him. He seemed to make the impossible not only achievable but beautiful. His productions were crystal clear, emotionally honest and elegant in their simplicity. Every movement, sound or visual element was carefully considered, and yet they had a sense of freedom and vibrant life not often experienced in the theatre.

"Robin was a brilliant artistic director ‎who raised the standards of acting and physical production at the Stratford Festival. We owe him a great debt of gratitude for his care, leadership and generosity to all."

Born in Haslemere in Surrey, England, on February 28, 1942, Mr. Phillips made his professional stage debut in 1959 at the Bristol Old Vic, where he had trained as an actor. In 1962, he joined the inaugural company of the Chichester Festival Theatre, under the artistic directorship of Laurence Olivier, and in 1965 he became an assistant director with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His 1970 production of Roland Miller's Heloise and Abelard was a hit both in London and on Broadway, and in 1973 he became artistic director of the Company Theatre in Greenwich.

Appointed in 1974 to succeed Jean Gascon as artistic leader of the Stratford Festival, Mr. Phillips presented his first season in 1975. It included his highly acclaimed production of Measure for Measure with Brian Bedford - then a newcomer to the company - as Angelo and a Third Stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest (remounted at the Avon Theatre in 1976 and 1979) with William Hutt as Lady Bracknell.

In that first season too, with his productions of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Comedy of Errors, he brought Shakespeare into the Avon Theatre repertoire for the first time in the Festival's history.

His second season included his production of Hamlet, in which Richard Monette and Nicholas Pennell alternated in the title role, and a Three Sisters directed by John Hirsch, starring Marti Maraden, Martha Henry and Maggie Smith. In 1977, Mr. Phillips cast Ms Smith and Mr. Bedford opposite each other in his production of Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman; the following season, he teamed them again in Noël Coward's Private Lives. Peter Ustinov joined the company in 1979 to play the title role in King Lear, a production that was revived in 1980.

During his tenure, Mr. Philips significantly increased the number of productions each season and enhanced the Festival's international profile. He also introduced key innovations, making the balcony on the Festival Theatre stage removable in order to dramatically increase the flexibility of the playing area, and founding the Young Company to provide the Festival's artists with opportunities to enhance their skills.

After completing his tenure, Mr. Phillips went on to direct many acclaimed productions in Canada, the United States and his native England, and also directed the 1983 feature film The Wars, based on the novel by Timothy Findley. He served as artistic director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, for its 1983-84 season, and returned to Stratford in 1986 to direct that season's Cymbeline at the Festival Theatre. He then served a two-year term as Director of the Young Company and directed several more Festival productions, culminating with Shakespeare's King John in 1993.

From 1990 to 1995, he was Director General of the Citadel Theatre, during which time his production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love toured Canada and the U.S. His production of the musical Jekyll & Hyde opened on Broadway in 1997, and the following year he directed the two inaugural productions of the newly formed Soulpepper company in Toronto. His West End productions included Long Day's Journey into Night, starring Jessica Lange, in 2000 and Ghosts in 2001.

His last Stratford season was in 2013, when he rehearsed Twelfth Night with participants in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre.

Among other honours, Mr. Phillips received an honorary degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1983, the Order of Canada in 2005 and a Governor General's Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010. An exhibition of photographs documenting his work at Stratford, entitled "Robin Phillips Directs: A Visual Record," is currently on display in the Festival Archives. Mr. Phillips participated in the compiling of the exhibition, and visited it in June. It is open to the public on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Festival extends its deepest condolences to Mr. Phillips's partner, Jo Mandel.

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