Peter Polycarpou

Last updated

Peter Polycarpou is an English-Cypriot actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series Birds of a Feather and Louis Charalambos in The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies .

Contents

Early life

Polycarpou was born in Brighton as son of a family of Greek Cypriots. [1] Together with his sister Eve Polycarpou he spent his first years in the St Angela's children's home in Brighton. [1] When he was six years old, he and his sister could return to live with their family. [1]

Career

Polycarpou's work in movies includes Evita (alongside Madonna), Oklahoma! , and De-Lovely . On stage, he was the first actor to play the role of John in the musical Miss Saigon in London. He was an original cast member of the musical Les Misérables , being an understudy for the role of Enjolras while playing Jean Prouvaire (A role he reprised in Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert), he later played Grantaire and Thénardier. He has also played The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera . He has also appeared in the UK première of The Woods by David Mamet at the Finborough Theatre, London. Television work has included The Bill , Holby City , Casualty and Waking the Dead . In 1992, he sang the theme tune to Love Hurts charting in the UK at number 26. In 1998 and 1999, he played Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! opposite Hugh Jackman as Curly. He also played Dr. Neville Craven in the original West End production of The Secret Garden .

In February 2006, Polycarpou appeared in EastEnders , playing Yannis Pappas, father-in-law of character Carly Wicks for 3 episodes. More recently, he played a leading role in the movie O Jerusalem , released in 2007. He also starred in a short film Broken alongside Michelle Collins playing the leading role of Solomon. The film about a Greek Cypriot immigrant family in 1960s London won several international awards. He wrote and co-directed his own short film Mad George with ex-musician and long time friend John Hoare. [2] The film has shown at several International Film Festivals.

Recent work includes playing Gash in Bryony Lavery's play Last Easter, directed by Douglas Hodge, at the Door Theatre in Birmingham, and the leading role of Daniel Warshowsky in the musical Imagine This at the New London Theatre in 2008.

In 2010, he starred alongside Sean Bean and Charlotte Rampling in the terrorist thriller Cleanskin , which was released in 2012. [3] He also appeared in the eighth series of Hustle for BBCTV directed by actor Adrian Lester.

Between 2010 and 2011, he appeared alongside Emma Williams and Michael Xavier in the Chichester Festival Theatre's Love Story . [4] It later transferred to the Duchess Theatre where it had a short run.

He also worked at Chichester Festival Theatre between 24 September and 5 November 2011 – playing Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd (alongside Love Story producer Michael Ball as Sweeney Todd). He returned to Chichester in 2014 to star as Nathan Detroit alongside Sophie Thompson in Guys and Dolls . [5] Later that year he played the Hollywood mogul Buddy Fiddler in Larry Gelbart 's City of Angels at the Donmar Theatre, London. [6]

In 2015 he appeared in 9 episodes of the FOX TV drama Tyrant playing Colonel Mahmoud. [7]

In September 2017 he played Ahmed Qurie in J.T. Rogers 's stage play Oslo at London's National Theatre, accompanying the production when it transferred to the West End in the following month. He was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his portrayal of Ahmed Qurie. [8]

In March 2018, Polycarpou played the fictional Palestinian detective Omar Yussef in two BBC Radio dramatisations of novels by Matt Beynon Rees. [9] [10] In July 2018 he narrated Raja Shehadeh's biographical Where the Line is Drawn: Crossing Boundaries in Occupied Palestine for BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week.

In 2019 he played Sancho in Man of La Mancha for English National Opera at the London Coliseum opposite Kelsey Grammer as Cervantes/Quixote, Danielle de Niese as Aldonza/Dulcinea and Nicholas Lyndhurst as the Governor/Innkeeper. [11]

As a playwright Peter Polycarpou has staged his plays about UK Cypriots searching for their roots and identity ' Searching For The Lemons and 'Cypriot Graffiti' at Theatro Technis. [12]

Philanthropy and culture

Polycarpou was once a member of the Green Party and stood for local election in the Muswell Hill ward. He is patron of the United Kingdom Thalassaemia Society and has run in the London Marathon three times.

Polycarpou is also a drama teacher and has developed a one-day workshop which he teaches in youth theatres and schools throughout the UK. He has directed a production of the Les Misérables Schools edition for the Act Too Youth theatre in Sussex, UK and the musical Rent.

Polycarpou is the patron of First Stages firststages.org.uk , a musical theatre youth group based in Devizes, Wiltshire. He takes an active part in the group and regularly coaches and directs whenever he can.

Polycarpou took an active interest in the Cypriot Film Festival UK. He has been a Director of The Royal Theatrical Fund since 2011.

He has played cricket for the Lord's Taverners as a wicketkeeper. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel West</span> British actor, theatre director and narrator

Samuel Alexander Joseph West is an English actor, theatre director and narrator. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor in theatre, film, television, and radio. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Leonard Bast in the Merchant Ivory film adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel Howards End (1992), and was later nominated for the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of the title role in Rupert's Land (1998). In 2010, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jeffrey Skilling in Lucy Prebble's Enron. He has appeared as reciter with orchestras and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2002. He has narrated several documentary series, including five for the BBC about the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Jacobi</span> English actor (born 1938)

Sir Derek George Jacobi is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dervla Kirwan</span> Irish actress (born 1971)

Dervla Kirwan is an Irish actress. She has received a number of accolades, including two IFTA Awards for her performances in the film Ondine (2009) and the RTÉ thriller series Smother (2021–2023) respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ball</span> English singer, presenter and actor (born 1962)

Michael Ashley Ball is an English singer, presenter and actor. In 1985, he made his West End debut as Marius Pontmercy in the original production of Les Misérables. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles Chart with "Love Changes Everything", from the musical Aspects of Love, where he played Alex Dillingham. He played the role in the West End and on Broadway. His album Coming Home To You reached number one in the UK making it his 4th number one album to date. On 24 April 2020, Ball and Captain Tom Moore entered the UK Singles Chart at number one with a cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone", with combined chart sales of 82,000 making it the fastest-selling single of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Allam</span> British actor (born 1953)

Roger William Allam is a British actor who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio.

Henry Goodman is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre.

David Burt is a British actor, known primarily for his many and wide-ranging West End performances.

Douglas William Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in Robin Hood (2010), Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Diana (2013), Penny Dreadful (2016), Catastrophe (2018), Joker and Lost in Space (2019), and The Great (2020–2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadley Fraser</span> English actor, singer (born 1980)

Robert Hugh "Hadley" Fraser is an English actor and singer. He made his West End debut as Marius Pontmercy in Les Misérables. He also originated the role of Tiernan in the Broadway show The Pirate Queen.

Annabel Scholey is an English actress. She played Lauren Drake in the BBC supernatural drama Being Human (2009) and the leading role of 'Maddie' in the musical feature film Walking on Sunshine (2014). Scholey played Contessina de Medici in the television series, Medici: Masters of Florence (2016) with Dustin Hoffman and Richard Madden. In 2021, she played the major recurring role of Claire Brown in Doctor Who: Flux.

David Thaxton is a Welsh singer, actor and musical theatre and opera performer. He starred in the Donmar Warehouse's Passion, for which he won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bertie Carvel</span> British actor (born 1977)

Robert Hugh Carvel is a British film and theatre actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical, and for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Rupert Murdoch in Ink. For the latter role, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play.

Peter Caulfield is an English actor.

George Eugeniou is a Cypriot actor, director and writer. He is the founder and artistic director of Theatro Technis in London, England, which was established in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellie Bamber</span> English actress (born 1997)

Eleanor Elizabeth Bamber is an English actress. She won third prize at the Ian Charleson Awards for her 2017 performance in The Lady from the Sea at the Donmar Warehouse. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC series Les Misérables (2018), The Trial of Christine Keeler (2019–2020), and The Serpent (2021), and the Disney+ series Willow (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelique Rockas</span> South African actress, producer and activist

Angelique Rockas is an actress, producer and activist. Rockas founded the theatre company Internationalist Theatre in the UK with her patron Athol Fugard. The theatre featured multi-racial casts in classical plays.

Claire Machin is a British actress, best known for her work in musical theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Matthew Price</span> British actor and singer

Matthew Price is a British actor, dancer and West End stage and concert singer known for playing Riff Raff in three European tours of The Rocky Horror Show. He is also a composer, having written Before After (2014) and Imaginary (2017) among other musicals and a theatrical producer, being a co-founder with James Yeoburn of the international production company United Theatrical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theatro Technis</span> Theatre in London

Theatro Technis is an independent multi-cultural arts centre with a 120 -seat theatre located in the heart of London Borough of Camden. It contributes in general and specific ways to the cultural and social life of the people of London.

Eve Polycarpou is a British stage actress, singer and songwriter. She is best known for her roles in Mother Courage and Her Children and In the Heights.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sarah Barrell: Travel: The Place that Changed Me – Peter Polycarpou . independent.co.uk, 23 October 2011.
  2. ↑ "Mad George". 22 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Newman, Kim. "Cleanskin".
  4. ↑ "Love Story posts early closing notices for 26 Feb at the Duchess Theatre". LondonTheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Confirmed: Peter Polycarpou & Sophie Thompson to star in Chichester's Guys and Dolls".
  6. ↑ Trueman, Matt (17 December 2014). "London Theater Review: 'City of Angels' at the Donmar Warehouse". Variety .
  7. ↑ "FX's 'Tyrant' Renewed for Season Three". The Hollywood Reporter . 8 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Billington, Michael (18 September 2017). "Oslo review – the political gets personal as tense peace talks are given epic sweep". The Guardian.
  9. ↑ "The Bethlehem Murders". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  10. ↑ "The Samaritan's Secret". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  11. ↑ Man of La Mancha - English National Opera website (2019)
  12. ↑ "Theatro Technis – Unfinished Histories".
  13. ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.