Paul Birchard

Last updated
Paul Birchard
Born
United States
Occupation(s) Film, stage, television, radio actor, voice artist
Children Ross

Paul Birchard is an American actor who lives in Finland. He has appeared in film, television, stage and radio productions, most notably as Bud in Sweet Bird of Youth with the Royal National Theatre, Ross in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and Chuck in the premiere of Frank Grimes's first performed play, The Fishing Trip. Birchard is also known for his one-man stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald stories, a documentary film about Tennessee Williams and Konrad Hopkins which he produced and directed, and a song promoting the Glasgow Diamonds American football team.

Contents

Early life and education

Birchard grew up in Los Angeles, California, [1] [2] where he saw Henry Fonda acting and directing stage performances, including The Time of Your Life in 1972. [3] He moved to Scotland, and in 1981 graduated with a Diploma in Dramatic Art from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. [4]

Career

During the 1980s, Birchard worked as a DJ at Radio Clyde, [5] [2] and appeared in various stage performances including supporting roles in a touring production of The Entertainer , [6] and pantomime. [5]

In 1986 he wrote and recorded the song "Diamonds Rap (We Are The Diamonds)", promoting the Glasgow Diamonds American football team. [7] [8] CBS Sports created a video package called the "CBS Video Bowl" for the half-time interval of their worldwide broadcast of the Super Bowl in January 1987, [8] and in a countdown from seven to one, "Diamonds Rap (We Are The Diamonds)" beat more polished rap videos by NFL teams to take the top spot. [9]

His career continued to encompass radio and stage roles, as well as appearances on television and in films. In 1991, he appeared at the Warehouse Theatre Croydon, London, in the premiere of Frank Grimes' first performed play, The Fishing Trip. [10] Reviewers commented, "Paul Birchard's macho Vietnam vet Chuck is unexpectedly subtle"; [10] "the riven Pat is set against the brooding force of Paul Birchard's Chuck - who conveys menace with the minimum of histrionics." [11]

In 1994, he adapted five of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Pat Hobby Stories into a one-man show at the Riverside Studios, London, in which he "used his broad acting talent to impersonate characters like the brash producer to the effeminate hairdresser ... The American actor's storytelling ability is so vivid that the very few props he uses - telephones, typewriters and Time magazines - are hardly needed to boost the imagination." [12] A reviewer in The Times considered that the stories were "not F. Scott Fitzgerald at his best ... frankly, five is a handful too many. ... The fault does not really lie with Birchard's performance ... he plays numerous parts adeptly, flicking from Hobby's wannabe Sam-Spade suavity to a cute-talking broad. He conveys character simply, with a jutting jaw or a seductive finger." [13] Two years later, he took the show to the Dublin Fringe Theatre Festival, [14] and in 2019, performed it at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. [15]

Some of his most notable roles have been at the National Theatre. [16] [17] He also played Benjamin's father in the London run of The Graduate . [2] [15] Birchard's more recent roles have been in Inherit the Wind at the Old Vic in London, where he played the town mayor and was understudy to Kevin Spacey. In Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Birchard played Ross. [18] The Guardian reviewer said, "Superb performances from Sian Thomas, John Ramm, Paul Birchard and Kyle McPhail do tremendous justice to an unnerving play", [19] while The Stage wrote "the four-strong cast put in near definitive performances ... Paul Birchard is lugubrious longest-serving friend, Ross ... Ross’s gleeful delight in the idea of an affair is a superbly-judged precursor to his horror at the enormity of the reality." [18]

On radio, he has been a regular guest on the Eddie Mair Live show on Radio Scotland in the early 1990s, [20] and appeared in BBC Radio 4 plays and readings in the 1990s and 2000s. [21] [22] [23] He also provided the voice over for 1998 computer game Plane Crazy , [24] as well as the voice of one of the main characters in Crysis 2 in 2011. [25]

On television, he appeared in a number of BBC 2 plays, including a drama about Buddy Holly in 1989, [26] presented the World League of American Football on Scottish TV, [27] and appeared in Spooks as a rogue CIA operative.

Birchard produced, directed and appeared in the feature-length documentary film U & Me & Tennessee: An American Romance... , which deals with a romance by correspondence between playwright Tennessee Williams and Konrad Hopkins. [2] [15] This film was an official selection at the 2007 Raindance Film Festival [28] and at the Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival.

Selected stage performances

YearTitleAuthorTheatreRoleDirector
1988 Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Ian Wooldridge [29]
1991The Fishing Trip Frank Grimes Warehouse Theatre Croydon Chuck Lindsay Anderson [10] [11] [30]
1993 True West Sam Shepard Tron Theatre, GlasgowSaul KimmerEve Jamieson [1]
1994 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald Riverside Studios, London W6one-man show [31] [12]
1994 Sweet Bird of Youth Tennessee Williams Lyttelton Theatre, London - Royal National Theatre Bud Richard Eyre [16] [32]
1994Johnny on a Spot Charles MacArthur Olivier Theatre, London - Royal National TheatreMcClure; Sergeant of State TroopersRichard Eyre [17] [33]
1996 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald Bewleys Theatre, Dublinone-man show [14]
2009 Inherit the Wind Robert E. Lee and Jerome Lawrence Old Vic, LondonMayor Trevor Nunn [34] [35]
2010 The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Edward Albee Traverse Theatre, EdinburghRoss Dominic Hill [19] [36] [18]
2015Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller Royal Shakespeare Company,
Stratford-upon-Avon; Noël Coward Theatre, London		Older Waiter Gregory Doran [37]

Filmography

Film

TV

YearTitleWriterRoleNotes
1989Words of Love Philip Norman Tommy Allsup BBC 2 Screen Two [26]
1991, 1992Absolute Hell Rodney Ackland BBC 2 Performance [38] [39]
2004 A Line in the Sand (TV Movie)Littelbaum
2007 Waterloo Road Jerry Preston

Radio

DateTitleRoleDirectorStation
1991 Dracula Hamish WilsonBBC Radio 4 (7 episodes) [21]
April 1999 Full Moon BBC Radio 4 (4 episodes) [22]
21 May 2001The Sea Warrior by Leila Aboulela BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play [23]
3 December 2002 Maigret: A Man's Head Ned Chaillet BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
23 February 2006 One for the Road: Are You Lonely Reader Eilidh McCreadie BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading

Personal life

Birchard is a lifelong devotee of Meher Baba. He has four children, [2] including Ross Matthew Birchard, who produces music as Hudson Mohawke. [7] [40]

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  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "SHOWBIZ: Tracking down old Tennessee". Evening Times. Glasgow, Scotland. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Henry Fonda's fine theatrical career". The Stage (5290): 20. 2 September 1982. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "Scottish Theatre Archive - Event Details". University of Glasgow, Special Collections. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. 1 2 Irving, Gordon (14 January 1988). "Radio Clyde DJs' show what good eggs they are". The Stage. No. 5570. p. 28. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  6. ↑ Moore, John (8 May 1986). "Kilmarnock. The Entertainer". The Stage (5482): 13. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  7. 1 2 Stewart, Catriona (1 August 2018). "Glasgow Diamonds rock out in hilarious American Football video". Evening Times. Glasgow, Scotland.
  8. 1 2 "Watch the video of the Glasgow Diamonds 'Diamond Rap' as Superbowl Sunday nears". Daily Record. UK. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  9. ↑ Hepburn, Iain (3 February 2013). "The Super Bowl's most unlikely half-time entertainment hit". The National. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 Maguire, Maureen Paton (4 July 1991). "Croydon Warehouse. The Fishing Trip". The Stage (5751): 13. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  11. 1 2 de Jongh, Nicholas (29 June 1991). "Croydon Warehouse. The Fishing Trip". The Guardian. London, England. p. 21. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  12. 1 2 Richmond, Wendy (23 December 1994). "Theatre Review: Amusing look at Hollywood". Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette. Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush, London, England. p. 1, Billboard. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  13. ↑ Bassett, Kate (22 December 1994). "Boring hack work. The Pat Hobby Stories. Riverside Studios". The Times. No. 65144. London, England. p. 33. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  14. 1 2 "Living on the Fringe". Sunday Independent. Dublin, Ireland. 29 September 1996. p. 45. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "THE PAT HOBBY STORIES Comes to Edinburgh Fringe". Broadway World. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  16. 1 2 "Theatre Week". The Stage (5905): 10. 16 June 1994. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  17. 1 2 "Theatre Week". The Stage (5894): 10. 31 March 1994. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  18. 1 2 3 Dibdin, Thom (22 April 2010). "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? review at Traverse Theatre Edinburgh". The Stage. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  19. 1 2 Fisher, Mark (26 April 2010). "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?". The Guardian . Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  20. ↑ "Listings Theatre". The List. No. 219. Edinburgh, Scotland. 28 January 1994. p. 57. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  21. 1 2 "BBC Radio Scotland's dramatisation of Dracula". The Stage (5775): 18. 19 December 1991. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  22. 1 2 "Radio. Radio 4". The Guardian. London, England. 12 April 1999. p. 19. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  23. 1 2 "Monday Radio". The Guardian. London, England. 21 May 2001. p. 20. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
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  25. ↑ "Crysis 2 Credits (Windows)". MobyGames. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
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  28. ↑ "Konrad Hopkins obituary". The Daily Telegraph . 24 June 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
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  40. ↑ Aaron, Charles (2015-06-29). "How Hudson Mohawke Became One of Dance's Most Exciting Auteurs". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 2017-07-27.
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