Robin
Hawdon has had an extremely varied
career. From novelist and West
End playwright, to 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.
For two decades he was a successful actor, whilst plying a concurrent trade as a playwright. In his early twenties his face became well known to British television viewers through regular appearances in such series as ‘Compact', ‘Flying Swan', ‘Robin's Nest', etc. 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 Robin 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 flourished. His early plays BARN DANCE, THE SECRET and THE HERO were seen at such venues as the Hampstead Theatre and the Edinburgh and Salzburg festivals, and 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 and PERFECT WEDDING, and the huge success of DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER (based on an early French play by Marc Camoletti) which ran in the West End for six years, and has played all over America, Australia, Canada and the English speaking world. Recently his play GOD AND STEPHEN HAWKING, about the phenomenal advance of modern science and its effect on traditional philosophical thinking, caused something of a stir in the national press when Stephen Hawking himself took objection to being portrayed on stage, despite the fact that the play was seen by most people as a tribute to his extraordinary life and career. That play has now been published by Josef Weinberger. Robin has also directed a number of stage productions, and in the nineteen eighties was Director of the Theatre Royal Bath, England's premier touring theatre. His first novel A RUSTLE IN THE GRASS was published by Hutchinsons in 1984 and by Dodd Mead in the US, and sold some sixty thousand copies. His second book THE JOURNEY was published by Hawthorn's in 2002.Robin's wife of forty years, Sheila, is a psychotherapist and writer. They have two daughters, four grand children, and homes in Bath, the South of France and Australia.
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