Biography of Philip Goulding

Philip Goulding was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1961. His play STRANGE LANDS won 1st Prize in the International Theatre Institute Playwriting Competition 2002. The play was produced by Public View Theatre Company and Giorgos Gikapeppas at the Empros Theatre, Athens in 2003 and premiered in the UK by N1 Theatre Company at the Courtyard Theatre, London in 2005. His stage plays include BENEATH THE WAVES (Eastern Angles/Colchester Mercury Theatre), THEN HE KISSED ME (Royal Theatre Northampton 1993, Courtyard Theatre London in association with Soho Theatre 1996), WENT DOWN TO THE CROSSROADS (Courtyard Theatre, London), WAITING FOR ELVIS (New Perspectives), HEADING WEST (Forest Forge in association with Salisbury Playhouse), DIFFERENT ANIMAL (Bootleg Theatre Company / Hen & Chickens, London), THE BELLE OF BONAVISTA BAY (Forest Forge), WAKE UP LITTLE SUZIE! (Oldham Coliseum / Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke), FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME (Oldham Coliseum) and, with composer Kate Edgar, DOC FAUST! - A WILD WEST MUSICAL (Forest Forge 2002, Maine Performing Arts Festival 2007). His adaptations include BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, BRIAR ROSE, PETER PAN and THE TRUE TALES OF ROBIN HOOD (all Forest Forge), THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (New Perspectives 1997, Third Space 2004, Bill Kenwright / CV Productions / Hornchurch / Windsor 2005), TOAD OF TOAD HALL (Forest Forge 1998, New Perspectives 1999, Eye Theatre 2001), WIND IN THE WILLOWS (Basingstoke Haymarket) and HANSEL & GRETEL (Forest Forge 1999, Eye Theatre 2002). He has written a new version of Gogol's classic comedy THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR (Forest Forge / Salisbury Playhouse 1997, Watermill Theatre, Newbury 1998, and as A LITTLE LOCAL DIFFICULTY Oldham Coliseum 2003). He has also written an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (Forest Forge / Salisbury Playhouse 1998, Wessex Actors Company 2005). THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT is published by Samuel French Ltd (2008). WENT DOWN TO THE CROSSROADS and THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE were published in the monthly theatre magazine Plays International and excerpts from his plays have been featured in Monologue and Scene anthologies published by Smith & Kraus (New York) and Meriwether Publishing (Colorado). He was awarded an Arts Council of England Theatre Writing Bursary in 1995. For radio he has written an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's short story WHO AM I THIS TIME? (BBC Radio 4, 2008) and has also written two plays for RTE (Dublin): A FAT MAN EATS THE MOON and THE DILEMMA. He was joint first-prize winner in the Radio Times Drama Awards in 1988 and his TV play KEEPER was broadcast on Channel 4 in 1990. He has written texts for two projects by the composer Alan Edward Williams: TWELVE STOREYS HIGH (a song cycle for soprano and piano) and the award-winning DIVERS WINGED CREATURES (choral songs)(Leipzig 2008).