This week we meet with actor, writer, producer and Dickens Theatre Company founder, Ryan Philpott.
Born and raised in Southend, Ryan is passionate about bringing fresh and original theatre to audiences of all ages in the Thames Estuary region.
Since the company formed in 2015 Ryan has written and produced all of the DTC’s stage adaptations.
Ryan trained as an actor at LAMDA. His theatre acting work includes ‘Oh What A Lovely War!’, ‘Pippin!’ And ‘Macbeth’ with the National Youth Theatre, ‘Aspects of Love’, ‘Volcano’, ‘Perfect Wedding’, ‘Jack and the Giant’ at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, ‘Limestone Cowboy’ at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and a UK tour of ‘Blood Brothers’.
On TV, Ryan played Matthew Thyme in all 3 series of ‘Rosemary & Thyme’ and was a regular in ‘EastEnders’ as Sergeant Kenny Morris from 2007-2015. His most recent TV includes ‘Jack Ryan’ (Amazon) and ‘Seven Days That Rocked Elton’ (Channel 5). Other TV includes ‘No Bananas’, ‘Coupling’, ‘London’s Burning’, ‘The Bill’, ‘Murder in Mind’ and BAFTA winning ‘Warriors’.
Ryan is co-owner of award-winning Deadpan Films and has written and produced a number of TV and film projects.
During the 1990s whilst on tour with ‘Blood Brothers’, Ryan met fellow DTC founder Louise Faulkner. A few theatre jobs later and he met Martin Carroll whilst in ‘Toad of Toad Hall’, which was directed by the Backstage Centre’s Brian Warrens.
Many years later Louise, Ryan and Martin all shared the stage in DTC’s debut production of ‘A Christmas Carol’. This was followed in 2016 with ‘The Trials of Charles Dickens’, written by Ryan (he also played Magwitch and Bill Sikes).
Since 2015, the DTC have honed their vision to inspire and motivate diverse audiences of people with previously limited professional theatre experiences. By sharing their high quality, accessible productions, the audiences are educated and excited about classical literature in equal measure.
Through effective partnerships and funding support from Arts Council England, the DTC are dedicated to developing mutually beneficial relationships between schools, theatres, colleges and community projects. It is through this approach that Ryan’s vision now includes a relationship with the Backstage Centre, the National College for Creative Industries and the performing and production arts training at South Essex College. Watch out in our weekly Blogs as we reveal more about an exciting community arts project for October!
Working alongside Ryan are a team of practitioners with an array of industry experience across theatre, television and film. Former star from ITV’s ‘The Bill’, is DTC director Eric Richard, known to many as ‘Sgt Bob Cryer’. Our bi-monthly newsletter will be featuring an extended interview with Ryan, Eric and the team at DTC in ‘The Big Interview’. To sign up to receive our newsletter and get your copy you can complete the box on the bottom of this page.
Authors: Brian Warrens and The Dickens Theatre Company.
