Robin Hawdon

From novelist and West End playwright to TV soap actor, B-movie film star, and Hamlet, to director of one of England's foremost theatres, his activities have spanned numerous aspects of the arts. In his early twenties his face became well known to British television viewers through regular appearances in several series. He later co-starred with Michael Crawford in the ITV sit-com ,Chalk and Cheese. He made a number of films, going on to star in When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and Zeta One. On stage Hawdon was seen in several leading roles in London's West End, and also played a number of classical leads around the country, such as Hamlet, Henry V and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion. At the same time, his career as a writer developed. His first major commercial success, The Mating Game, achieved a long run at London's Apollo Theatre and has subsequently played in over thirty countries around the world. This was followed by other much performed and published plays such as Birthday Suite, Revenge, Don't Rock the Boat, Perfect Wedding, God and Stephen Hawking and the hugely successful Don't Dress for Dinner (his adaptation of the French play by Marc Camoletti). Robin has also directed a number of stage productions, and in the 1980s founded the Bath Fringe Festival and then became Director of the Theatre Royal Bath, England's premier touring theatre.