Bill Homewood
Bill Homewood is an English television and stage actor and singer. He worked on several BBC Children's television series in the 1970s and 1980s, and was subsequently known for his work in the Royal Shakespeare Company, in the West End, on tour, and his recordings of audiobooks. He is also a published poet.[1]
Early life
Homewood attended St Albans School, winning a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, but choosing to take up a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama to study Opera and Spanish Guitar. He qualified in 1969 with two diplomas: AGSM in Singing, AGSM in Teaching.
Career
Early career
After training, Homewood joined the Sadler's Wells New Opera Company of Sadler's Wells at the London Coliseum (later the English Opera Company) as a principal, playing opposite John Tomlinson as Historian in Elizabeth Lutyens's Time Off, and performed in concert and oratorio. He also travelled in solo cabaret (songs with guitar) across Britain and started his television career on BBC Children's Television where he became a regular in such shows as Watch, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore, Rainbow and So You Want to be Top?. He was well known as "The Backwards Man",[2] owing to his unusual ability to speak (and sing) backwards, demonstrated in his regular performance as Ron Gad in The Adventure Game for the BBC.[3][4] Also for the BBC he played Blondel in The Talisman[5] and Player King in Hamlet with Derek Jacobi in the title role.[6]
Homewood also worked as Examiner in (Classical Spanish) Guitar at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and ran a Saturday guitar school in West London – even though his performing career was veering from Music towards Theatre.
Theatre directing
In 1990 he directed Romeo & Juliet starring Roland Gift at Hull Truck, which transferred to London (Shaw Theatre) and New York (Stony Brook Theatre). His other American directing credits include the musical Naughty Marietta at the Sundome in Phoenix, Arizona, the opera The Secret Marriage at the Eastman Theatre, NY and Noises Off at Florida Atlantic Theatre, Florida. In 2006/7 he directed Macbeth and Shakespeare: Les Feux, Les Artifices (in French) at the Conservatoire Nationale de France in Montpellier.
Radio and audiobooks
Homewood's radio drama credits include Captain Hook in Peter Pan (PBS Radio, US) and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning for BBC Radio. He has recorded several audiobook CDs for companies such as Naxos, including Les Misérables, The Three Musketeers, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Man In The Iron Mask, Tom Jones, King Solomon's Mimes, She, Gargantua & Pantagruel, Shakespeare's Lovers (with Estelle Kohler) and the Zorro series. Homewood's Count Of Monte Cristo for Naxos is an evergreen audiobook best-seller.[7]
In 2016 Ukemi Audiobooks released Great French Poems, a solo album in which Homewood performs 35 classics, delivering each poem first in French and then in his own English translation.[8]
Visiting academic appointments
In 1979 Homewood was made Honorary Citizen of Austin, Texas. He has held several visiting appointments in conservatories and universities, including Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Lancaster University, Dean of the British American Drama Academy and has been twice Eminent Chair in Theatre at Florida Atlantic University.[9]
In 1983 he founded the Shakespeare text course at RADA, London.[10] In the 1980s Homewood founded and devised the Shakespeare On Stage (SOS) program in Missouri and Ohio, for Young Audiences Inc.. SOS was based in Kansas City and used actors from the Missouri Repertory Theatre for educational outreach work.
His many other guest academic appointments included: Temp Head of Music at Thomas Huxley College in Ealing, London; Acting Director of the Opera Department at the Eastman School of Music; New York, Visiting Professor of Shakespeare in Montpellier at both the Université Paul Valéry, and the Conservatoire Nationale de France. Since 1980 Bill Homewood has taught occasional workshops in Shakespeare and Audition Technique at the London Actors Professional Centre.
Published credits
Homewood's publications include Theatrical Letters – 400 years of English-speaking Theatre History, in the words of the actors themselves; foreword by Sir John Gielgud, Marginalia Press 1995, Under The Blue – Selected Poems by Bill Homewood, Mimosa Books 2015 Poésies – Poèmes et Chansonnettes by Bill Homewood (in French), Mimosa Books 2017. Homewood's translation of St Exupéry's Terre Des Hommes (Land Of Men) was released in 2016 on Ukemi Audiobooks.[11] His innumerable other writing credits include many commissioned screenplays and play scripts, including Kafka's The Trial, premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London in 1993, starring James Wilby.
Awards
- 2005 Independent Newspaper Audiobook of the Year for his recording of KING SOLOMON’S MINES for Naxos AudioBooks
- 2010 Sunday Times Audiobook of the Year for his recording of THE RED & THE BLACK for Naxos AudioBooks
- 2012 AudioFile Earpohones Award for his recording of SHE for Naxos AudioBooks
Filmography
| Title | Role | Production Company | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honour Among Thieves | Como | Gonzo Bros Films – Hollywood | Jeff Hamilton |
| Spirit of 7 | The Architect | Jack Morton Worldwide Films | Mark Aldridge |
| Dog | Dog | RCA Films | Suzie Templeton |
| The Professionals | Det Supt Leonard | David Wickes TV/Carlton TV | Chris King |
| The Renford Rejects | Basil Stoker | Nickelodeon/Channel 4 | S Bawol/Joy Perino/
A Margeston/Phil Ox |
| Berkeley Square | Colonel Beamish | BBC | Richard Holthouse |
| A Wing & A Prayer | Chief Constable Towers | Thames TV/Channel 5 | Richard Laxton |
| London's Burning | DS Edmunds | LWT | Frank Smith/Gerry Poulson |
| Snap | Philip Kearney | Cam Flix Films | Kevin McMullen |
| The Nowhere Man | The Other Man | Monument Pictures | Gina Scull |
| Casualty | Gibbs | BBC | David Penn |
| Crocodile Shoes | Boss Bailiff | Big Boy/Red Rooster Films | David Richards/Malcolm Mowbray |
| Coronation Street | Monty Harris | Granada TV | David Penn/Romey Allison/Brian Mills |
| Wise Guy | Mr Wise Guy | BBC | David McNab |
| The One | DCI Lemon | Revelation Films | Gary Wicks |
| WOOF! | Karsh | Central/Carlton | David Cobham |
| The Bill | Jack Cox | Thames Television | Nick Mallett |
| Dalton Eyes | John Dalton | BBC | Liz Tucker |
| Les Sons de la Vie | Ivan | Today Films – Brussels | Alain Brunard |
| The Eleventh Hour | M.le Gourmet | BBC | Richard Marson |
| The Bill | Billy Guthrie | Thames TV | Alan Bell |
| The Sharp End | Dr Spottiswoode | BBC | David Penn |
| Spy Trap | Spycatcher | BBC | David Crichton |
| The Talisman | Blondel | BBC | Richard Brammall |
| Hamlet | Prologue/Player King | BBC | Rodney Bennett |
| The Adventure Game | Ron Gad | BBC | Ian Oliver/Chris Tandy |
| Shakespeare Lady | Pierce Butler | PBS TV "Masterpiece" – NY | Bill Homewood |
| Hyperspace Hotel | Joshua Bulwark | BBC | Jane Tarleton/Rita Lynn |
| The Tribunal | The Judge | Coulter Films | David Coulter |
| Little Fish | Goldberg | CAD Films/Thames TV | Paul Gascoigne |
| Aladdin | Himself | BBC | Alun Russell |
| Arfer's Monologues | Arfer Loaf | BBC | Judy Whitfield |
Theatre credits
From 1975 to 1995 Homewood worked regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including The Hollow Crown (directed by John Barton) and Pleasure & Repentance (directed by Terry Hands) in London, Stratford-on-Avon and on tour in the US and Europe
| Title | Role | RSC Production | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twelfth Night | Feste | USA Tour | Patrick Stewart |
| Under Milk Wood | Various | USA/Israel Tour | Edwin Richfield |
| The Hollow Crown | 4 Hander | Bermuda Fests/Several No1 International Tours
Aldwych/Stratford/Newcastle/New York |
John Barton/Ian Judge |
| Pleasure & Repentance | 4 Hander | World Tour | Terry Hands |
| Who's Afraid Of The Sonnets? | One man show | UK/USA/Israel Tours | Bill Homewood |
| The Homecoming | Lenny | USA Tour | The Company |
Touring Theatre
| Title | Role | Production Company | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dangerous Obsession | John Barrett | Theatre Royal – Windsor | Mark Piper |
| Beneath The Visiting Moon | Antony | Bill Homewood/Janet Suzman | Janet Suzman |
| The Birth Of Merlin | The Devil | Theatr Clwyd | Denise Coffey |
| Will You Walk Into My Parlour | Music Hall | Royal Exchange Theatre | Timothy West |
| Shakespeare & Love | Shakespeare | Romania/Hungary Tour | Bill Homewood |
| Twelfth Night | Malvolio | Chester Gateway Theatre | Phil Partridge |
| The Rivals | Faulkland | ||
| The Teddy Bears' Picnic | Beria | ||
| Next Time I'll Sing To You | Rudge | Yvonne Arnaud Theatre/UK Tour | Chris Masters |
| Peter Pan | Captain Hook | Elks Opera House – Arizona | Ron Newcomer |
| Fanny | Pierce Butler | Market Theatre – Johannesburg/
Official Edinburgh Festival/ 3 USA No1 Tours |
Bill Homewood |
West End and London theatre
| Title | Role | Production Company | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Oberon | Open Air Theatre – Regents Park | Ian Talbot |
| Macbeth | Banquo | Bill Gaunt | |
| Noises Off | Lloyd Dallas | Queens Theatre | Toby Robertson |
| Jekyll | Father Nicholson | Apollo/Theatre Of Comedy | Stephen Rayne |
| Comedy Of Errors | Dromio Of Syracuse | 400th Anniversary Production/Grays Inn | Anthony Besch |
| The Winter's Tale | Leontes | Latchmere Theatre | Michael Batz |
| The Song Of Songs | Solomon | National Theatre (Olivier/Lyttelton) | Bill Homewood |
| The Road To Jerusalem | Kenan | Tricycle Theatre | Andrew Pratt |
| Eastward Ho! | Fangs | Mermaid Theatre | Robert Chetwyn |
| Vasco | Caesar | Finborough Theatre | Wendy Leston |
| Easter | Lime | Bridge Lane Theatre | Katherine Alonzo |
West End Musical
| Title | Role | Production Company | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phantom Of The Opera | Firmin | Her Majesty's Theatre/ | Harold Prince |
| Grand Hotel | Zinnowitz | Dominion Theatre | Tommy Tune |
| Jesus Christ Superstar | Pilate | 20th Anniversary UK Tour | Hugh Woolridge |
| The Boys From Syracuse | Antipholus of Ephesus | Open Air Theatre – Regent's Park | Judi Dench |
| Oscar | Marquess of Queensbury | Kings Head Theatre | Christopher Sandford |
| Hard Times | Stephen Blackpool | London Gala Productions/
Bill Kenwright |
Christopher Tookey |
| The Man Of Feeling | Title role | Kings Head Theatre | Andy Hines |
| The French Have A Song For It | Revue | John Heawood |
References
- ^ "Under the Blue: Poems". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Singing with both hands tutor biog". The Actors Centre. The Actors Centre.
- ^ "The Adventure Game: looking back at a brilliant kids' TV show". Den of Geek.
- ^ "The Adventure Game". SFX. 24 May 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- ^ "Bill Homewood". BFI.
- ^ "Hamlet · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.
- ^ "Audiobooks aren't a bad thing. Unless you're driving, maybe". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "Great French Poems". Ukemi Audiobooks. Ukemi Audiobooks. 20 March 2016.
- ^ "Bill Homewood". Poetry PF. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
- ^ "The Actors Centre: Singing with Both Hands". www.actorscentre.co.uk.
- ^ Hardyment, Christina (23 June 2018). "Review: Land of Men: Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry". The Times.