Robin Hawdon has had an extremely varied career. From novelist and West End playwright, to soap actor, beefcake 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.

By Robin Hawdon

BARN DANCE Hampstead Theatre, London 1965
THE SECRET Salzburg and King’s Lynn Festivals 1967
THE HERO Edinburgh Festival and National tour 1970
THE MATING GAME Apollo Theatre London 1973-4. Various national tours. Performed in 30 countries world-wide. (Published Warner Chappell and Samuel French Inc US)
THERE’S A SMALL HOTEL (FRENCH FARCE) National tour 1976. Rights sold Germany, France, Scandinavia.
PEOPLE Musical: Richmond Orange Tree 1979, Theatre Royal Windsor 1980
BIRTHDAY SUITE Various national tours UK 1983-5, Germany, France, US, Holland, Scandinavia, Italy, etc. (Published Samuel French)
THE OLD DEVILS Stage adaptation of Kingsley Amis novel. Theatre Clwyd and national tour 1989. US Walnut Theatre, Philadelphia 1993. (Published Dramatic Publishers US)
REVENGE Redgrave Theatre, Farnham and tour. Theatre Royal Windsor and tour. Italy, Poland. (Published Warner Chappell)
DON’T DRESS FOR DINNER (Adapted from a play by Marc Camoletti) Apollo and Duchess Theatres, London 1991-7. Various productions US, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and UK (Published Samuel French)
DON’T ROCK THE BOAT Redgrave Theatre and tour 1992. Mill at Sonning 1999. Germany, Holland. (Published Warner Chappell)
PERFECT WEDDING Germany, US, Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Poland etc 1994-2002. (Published Samuel French Inc)
GOD AND STEPHEN HAWKING Theatre Royal Bath and tour –2000 (Published Josef Weinberger)
SHADY BUSINESS Comedy, premiered US summer 2002.
WAR New two hander straight play

BARN DANCE Austrian and German TV 1965
THE SECRET German TV 1967
THE MATING GAME screenplay Rank Films and German TV
THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR screenplay Saltzman and Broccoli, Scotia Films
SCULLY Screenplay Independent Films
THE BIG DAY screenplay based on PERFECT WEDDING (see above). German and Polish TV 2000-2002

A RUSTLE IN THE GRASS UK (Hamlyn) and US 1984
THE JOURNEY published July 2002 (Hawthorn)

Stage synopses

THE MATING GAME (Published Samuel French USA)

A new, updated version of the comedy that has regularly played around the world since its hit run in London in the seventies. Set in a smart Mayfair apartment, full of gadgets with a mind of their own, the story concerns the frantic attempts of a trendy young TV personality to both lose his virginity and avoid true love, whilst at the same time preserving his image as a notorious stud.

"Audience nearly raised the roof" - Daily Telegraph.
"Bright, frothy, knockabout nonsense" - Daily Mirror. "Audience laughed fit to bust." - Financial Times.

A small scale (cast of 6) musical in the Sondheim vein which got rave reviews for its two productions at the Richmond Orange Tree and Windsor Theatre Royal in the 1980's. Concerns the efforts of a typically modern middle class family to sort out their tangled emotional relationships without breaking up the household altogether.

"This delightful piece about love in and out of marriage is clever, witty, and well worth seeing and hearing" (Windsor & Eton Express).
 "...a gem of a show which deserves a much wider showing."(Overtures). 
"...rips away the\ facade of a comfortable middle class marriage... the cast was called back time and again for curtain calls." (Evening Mail)

BIRTHDAY SUITE (published Samuel French)

Five hander comedy much produced and toured in the U.K and Europe. Taking place in adjoining hotel bedrooms it concerns the chaos which ensues when two 'blind dates' commence with introductions between the wrong partners. The confusions get worse throughout the evening, exacerbated by the efforts of an over-zealous Italian room waiter.

THE OLD DEVILS (Published Dramatic Publishing U.S.A.)

Stage adaptation of Kingsley Amis's Booker Prize winning and arguably finest novel. Produced here and in the USA to splendid reviews, it requires a cast of twelve, and an open plan set.

"Extremely funny in its portrayal of fake Welshness and the morose discontents of old age." (The Guardian). 
".....certainly a very funny play with echoes of Under Milk Wood... full of barbed jokes and acid innuendo." (The Stage).
"...filled with comic surprises and shocking revelations." (Philadelphia Courier)

REVENGE (published Warner Chappell)

Two handed thriller often performed in the U.K. and on the Continent. An attractive female reporter arrives at the London penthouse apartment of a powerful politician to interview him about a fatal accident. But things are never quite what they seem as a series of revelations builds to an unexpected and surprising conclusion.

"The plot has more twists and turns than any corkscrew..." 
"...a beguiling look at the manners of motivation... the most baffling of thrillers" 
"...a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse."

DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER (Published Samuel French)

Hugely popular farce loosely based on an original play by Marc Camoletti. After its six year run in the West End this comedy has been performed all over America, Canada, Australia and the English speaking world.

"Hurtling along at the speed of light, this breathtaking farce is a near faultless piece of theatrical invention." (Sunday Times)

DON'T ROCK THE BOAT (Published Warner Chappell).

A comedy with a serious theme set in the unusual location of the rural River Thames. A brash self-made property developer invites a local planning committee chairman and his family to spend what is supposed to be a restful week-end on board the builder's treasured houseboat. But he has ulterior motives, and the visit turns to disaster as the personalities and lifestyles of the two families clash at every turn. A six-hander which has been performed to splendid notices both in the U.K. and abroad.

PERFECT WEDDING (Published Samuel French)

A highly successful comedy which has been performed all over Europe and America. A bridegroom wakes on his wedding morning in his own bridal suite, with his bride-to-be about to arrive any moment, and finds a naked girl in bed beside him. What's more an extremely attractive naked girl whom, in the depths of his post stag-night hangover, he can't remotely remember even having been introduced to. The ensuing chaos reaches nuclear proportions. The six-hander play is that rare combination - a riotous comedy and a touching love story at the same time.

'Laughs abound in the American premiere... It all works out in the end, but not before playgoers have aching sides.' (Wisconsin Advocate.)
'....the audience is left aching with laughter.... It makes for a crazy, wonderful evening.' (Germany - Bonn Schaufenster)
'.... a splendid evening in the theatre.... met with lengthy applause and shouts of approval.' (Vienna Donnerstag)

GOD AND STEPHEN HAWKING (published Josef Weinberger)

A unique and innovative play which caused a minor sensation during its first production in the U.K. when Stephen Hawking himself denounced it in the press as an intrusion on his privacy. The work is in fact a tribute to his extraordinary life and achievements, and explains in simple terms much of the mysteries of modern science which Hawking himself unfolds in his best-selling 'A Brief History Of Time'. The cast is only four, but God himself appears with relish in various guises as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, the Pope, and even the Queen, to debate with the scientist the essential clash between orthodox religious views and modern scientific progress.

"The theatrical equivalent of the Big Bang." (Daily Telegraph)
"...a remarkable and thought-provoking account of two great powers vying for supremacy." (The Stage)

A new farce only recently premiered with great success in the U.S.A. A pair of dancing girls at a Soho night-club desperately try to sort out their tangled love lives without incurring the wrath of their gangster boss, 'Big Mack' and his side-kicks.

"...packed with high energy and mad comedy that rarely takes a breath until its side-splitting conclusion." (Door County Advocate). 
"...big surprises that delight and astonish.... it is 'Sopranos' with laughing gas." (Green Bay Gazette)

New two-handed drama covering some of the same subject matter as GOD AND STEPHEN HAWKING. An agnostic professor in the forefront of modern scientific thinking and a devoutly Christian female psychiatrist meet for the first time in five years after the cataclysmic break up of their marriage. In a single tempestuous evening they re-enact the philosophical arguments, temperamental differences and sexual skirmishes of their marriage in a confrontation that mirrors the wars between nations, races and creeds. 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf' without the peripheral characters.

A NIGHT IN PROVENCE