Philippa Hammond

Actor * Voice Actor * Presenter *Equity Member * Spotlight * Trainer * Roleplayer

I’m proud of these responses to my work from press and online reviewers, producers, directors and writers.

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Protect and Survive

“Hammond’s Director Cat … a perfectly-cast, cast-ingot actor, managing actor panic, sponsorship crises and sexual intrigue with charismatic Theo whom she’s addicted to though married to off-stage Charles. Her exchanges with Ashley are a high-point of naturalistic dialogue and wit… a ‘creative’ Cat exudes quick-witted, sure-footed poise …”

Fringe Review
Simon Jenner

“… director Cat – under the guise of briefing her actors – fills us in on exactly how radiation poisoning eats the human body from inside. This has to rank as one of the smartest devices I’ve ever seen at the Fringe, and on the whole it works remarkably well …”

Fringe Guru
Richard Stamp

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The Neverland Singularity

“Philippa Hammond is beautifully priggish … Hammond does a fine job of registering off-hand impatience gradually assaulted by Everchild’s gift of chirpy petulance, nagging and irritating Hammond into losing her temper but not her reason … It’s a perfect ten-minute play”

Sussex Playwrights Reviews
Simon Jenner

“ … extremely good comedy … “

The Argus
Barrie Jerram

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Last Supper

“Mary Wollstonecraft played by Philippa Hammond … to the outrage of Mary, the supervisor reveals that her private diaries have been published by ‘Penguin’. As Mary hears of this unknown evil that is ‘Penguin’ she becomes incensed, creating such sharp humour and wit and joy …”

Fringe Review
Olivia Sewell

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Fanny Hill

“ … That Philippa Hammond, in the role of Fanny, can narrate at the same time as simulating a good back-alley rogering is remarkable … This is a genuinely good production. … Fringe drama doesn’t come any more stimulating than this.”

The List
Ross Holloway

“ … Philippa Hammond is instantly likeable as the much-sought-after Fanny, and brings an unexpected grace and vulnerability to the character … Afterthought Productions have a scorcher of a show on their hands with this one. It’s sure to be a hit with Fringe audiences. Get your ticket now, because Fanny Hill is going to sell out … “

Edinburgh Evening News
Liam Rudden

“ … The play is packed with erotic adventures of all shapes and sizes nailed by a versatile cast which delights in taking many parts, dropping many breeches and lifting many skirts. It’s deliciously naughty and well worth staying up for … “

The Scotsman
Jane-Ann Purdy

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Glimpse: An Honorary Man, Turning the Handle, Little Girls Like to Kiss, Backstage Whispers]

“ … drama, suspense and genuine laughs. Glimpse is a collection of four one-act plays by Thomas Everchild, all performed by Philippa Hammond … Glimpse is graspable, engrossing and very entertaining; channel-flicking glances at scenes you won’t want to switch over.”

The Argus
Lyndsey Winship

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Glimpse: Turning the Handle

“ … a charming solo turn …”

The Argus
Louise Schweitzer

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Glimpse Part One: An Honorary Man & Turning The Handle

“ **** … Hammond is served well by two three-dimensional, literate and dramatic scripts written by Thomas Everchild and she displays brilliant talent in interpreting them for us. It is spellbinding and entertaining, heart rending and humorous. An hour was all too short … “

The Scotsman
Roderick Graham

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Glimpse Part Two: Little Girls Like To Kiss & Backstage Whispers

“ **** … Glimpse is a collection of four solo shows presented by Philippa Hammond … And very good they are too … understated and impressively controlled … Hammond excels … Glimpse is impressive, and well-named; fleeting moments of subtle theatrical insight … “

The Scotsman
James Kirkup

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The Comedy of Errors

“Philippa Hammond as quick-change Luce, the more attractive servant, feists away at this as well as a truculent merchant earlier on, and with gravitas, vocal clarity and projection as Aemilia, now abbess …Hammond is superbly-voiced particularly as Aemilia and is one of those who finds all eyes on her when she requires it … a light-footed, thump-fisted, limp-wristed and eye-poppingly uproarious production …”

Fringe Review
Simon Jenner

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Protect & Survive: Day Zero + 120 (audio drama)

‘Fantastic performance as the Farmer’
Simon Moorhead, producer / director

‘Wonderful burr and her variety of pacing and delivery is a delight’
Simon Jenner, author

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Extraordinary Tales (three audio drama series episodes)

‘A big thank you for all of your work last Sunday. I loved your performances in the various roles across the plays. As always it was a pleasure to work with you.’
Simon Moorhead, producer TBC Audio

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Tales of a Timelord: The World That Shouldn’t Be

‘ You sound SO SO bad ass. You’re defo our scariest chracter to date, You’re scarier than the daleks! … ‘

Invokal, director

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Producer: Philippa Hammond
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild, from Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure by John Cleland

“This adaptation of John Cleland’s neglected Georgian masterwork is a hugely enjoyable bawdy romp through one woman’s life and sex life, which for the purposes of the tale appear to be virtually interchangeable.

The eponymous heroine, a naïve country virgin, finds herself all alone in the world with nothing but a bag of second-hand trinkets to her name, when a chance meeting with an old schoolfriend sets her on the path to the big city and a life as a streetwise whore. But Fanny is not wretched at the thought of having to turn tricks to make her way, and in fact fate continually smiles down on this “tart with a heart”: when one brothel door slams in her face another seems courteously to fly open.

The play is packed with erotic adventures of all shapes and sizes nailed by a versatile cast which delights in taking many parts, dropping many breeches and lifting many skirts. It’s deliciously naughty and well worth staying up for.”

The Scotsman
(Jane-Ann Purdy)

Brighton Shakespeare Company at Brighton Open Air Theatre

Highly Recommeded Show

“Directed by Mark Brailsford and with costumes designed by Sean Chapman this family-oriented production is segmented by a music system directed by Brailsford. The set’s by ‘Ethel Mermen’. The production’s in (Ancient Greek) period: with crisp white and bright shades. There’s a seductive backdrop panel of blue sky and Mediterranean turquoise sea, with two white Ionic columns bedecked with leaves resembling musical notes. The BOAT team supply standard facilities and lighting.

Brighton’s Open Air Theatre is hotting up with the weather. We’ve already had a thirsty slake of Shakespeare. There’s often either short-run experimental comedy productions or returning companies like The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s Tempest during the Festival; and here the Brighton Shakespeare Company’s The Comedy of Errors.

Those who saw their A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year will know their style: Mark Brailsford’s company combine an opulent look (here Sean Chapman’s work courtesy of Gladrags) with a brisk sometimes headlong style beautifully paced for loping shadows in a June evening.

The set’s by ‘Ethel Mermen’. Right. Why not Sappho? The production’s certainly in (Ancient Greek) period, which our south-coast Mediterranean moment fits perfectly: lots of crisp white and bright shades. There’s a seductive backdrop panel of blue sky and Mediterranean turquoise sea, with two white Ionic columns going nowhere just for show, bedecked with leaves resembling musical notes.

The Comedy of Errors is the shortest and once thought earliest Shakespeare play. It’s not that early, dating from 1594. Though modelled on Plautus – with the classical twenty-four-hour action observed – it’s a fantastically compressed plot. There’s economical idiocies, an attitude towards women close to The Taming of a Shrew, violent slave-abuse and a finale of double-takes. No wonder it’s so popular. Well, perhaps for other reasons.

Poor merchant Aegeon of Syracuse has washed up on Ephesus and Paul Moriarty’s regal Solinus, Duke of Ephesus has to remind him that because of an anti-treaty he’s to die. Aegeon is permitted to relate his story: he lost a wife Aemilia and identical twin son at sea, together with a twin servant – twins bought and placed in service to the twin sons. Both merchant sons are called Antipholus – to help identification (groan); both servant twins, Dromio (and yes there were mutters of ‘wherefore art thou, Dromio?’ amongst seated thespians). One each remained to Aegeon but they went off seven years since to Corinth to seek out their twins, and haven’t been heard of. In fact they’ve just arrived here and because they came over from Corinth, not Syracuse, they’re safe. Andrew Crouch plays Antipholus of Syracuse as he’s known, and his Dromio’s Brailsford himself.

This is a quick-witted almost family production. There’s a few sexy but not really sexual references. In many productions the danger of a wife unwittingly enjoying a puzzled brother whilst he husband sulkily goes off the rails isn’t brought out, nor the wife’s importuning sexual attempts to bring her husband home. A little’s cut from the Courtesan’s role but the plot’s clear, the language for the most part projected and the fabulously bright costumes a delight. Very few props are needed. There’s sound system that blasts seraphic music every time a holy character’s about to walk on. A doorframe and bench, otherwise the ripe greenery of Adriana’s dress, Lucia’s blue, the white togas of the young masters and the servile friar brown of the servants contrast with the fantastical red-piped white goldsmith garb and a similar pink confection for Balthazar (one of Nathan Ariss’ several roles, here fruity and enormous fun).

And the other two? Here from birth. The merchant’s other son Antipholus (now) of Ephesus (Duncan Drury) has been in service to the Duke seven years, the length the other brother’s been in Corinth. His Dromio’s the puckish and sprightly Stewart Barham. No-one knows who they really are, or the fact that the other pair have washed up. Added to which Antipholus of Ephesus has married Adriana (Kerren Garner) who has an unmarried sister Luciana (Sophia Behn, expressive of wifely duty but suddenly falling for the ‘husband’) who enjoys eloquence and constantly chides her jealous splenetic sister, enjoining her to submit to her lord. Adriana has answers to that. Like get some experience first.

Behn edges from the smugness of her role to a bewildered fragility only held in check by her wit and eloquence. Garner progressively warms to her role with a vocal grounding by the end which matches her husband’s, and can yank him from a courtesan’s cheeky gaze.

Naturally everything goes wrong, the servants and masters mistake each other, a wife mistakes the wrong twin and takes him to her upper room (this is often sexually played out, but not here) whereas the real master and servant are refused entry, or even to be seen being judged imposters. Added to which there’s Brandon Jewell’s uproarious camp Goldsmith who gives an ordered necklace to the wrong brother and arrests the right one for not giving him the money, and so on.

The plot’s pithy, endlessly abusive of servants in the old Plautan way and we laugh heartily as he’s beaten up by each brother for getting as hopelessly confused as they, without of course anyone guessing why. Added to which when Antipholus of Ephesus doesn’t get his home oats he repairs to Sophie Flack the courtesan, gets a ring off her and we presume enjoys her company as his wife’s unwittingly entertaining his brother. Dromio of Ephesus too is being pursued by the offstage household’s spherical maid with country matters on her mind. Philippa Hammond as quick-change Luce the more attractive servant feists way at this as well as a truculent merchant earlier on and with gravitas vocal clarity and projection as… Aemilia, now abbess. Yes she’s been here all along too. By the time one set f twins lodge with her yet appear outside where the entire populace from the Duke down are assembled… Come and see.

Drury and Crouch enjoy a twin clarity, rationale, vocal projection timing and even look that make their respective acts treasurable. Their timbres are similar, though Drury the one with military experience is believable as one who ahs authority and a wife. Crouch plays his Antipholus as an assured adventurer but not one who has the assurance of a landed man. It’s a subtle distinction.

They ground the production in a believable cascade of errors. Barham, the Ephesus Dromio (indentured to Drury) enjoys a complete identification wit this kind of role: whether whining, flinching farting or floundering under a kick of instance, Barham’s facial expressions and physical contortions ar remarkable. He made an indelible impression last year ad doe so again. Brailsford keeping every part of this moving gets better and better as he Syracuse Dromio and he starts very well. He’s not as nimble or bendy as Barham who seems born to this but produces a perfect comic voice and a running-gag language that’s hugely enjoyable and subtly different.

Hammond is superbly-voiced particularly as Aemilia and is one of those who finds all eyes on her when she requires it. Flack’s winning and snake-hipped as Courtesan which helps as she comes wrapped with a snake. Her slinky voice revs up the part for laughs.

Ariss can’t be heard as the unfortunate condemned merchant Aegeon, except in snatches: his beard might have something to do with it. Released as Balthazar or Dr Pinch the Welsh quack he’s a revelation as a parodically-voiced bon-viveur or fire-breathing zealot.

Jewell is a discovery. Though his CV states he looks twelve (like Owen Jones) his frantic campery (it calms down) makes a so-so part a wild routine. He can already project with clarity and comic edge, turn a word into a flounce, an exit into ritual. One director muttered ‘see him at …’ and he’s that good. Katy Matthews levels well as officer and jailer.

Moriarty naturally as either a merchant or particularly the Duke is sovereign. His voice carries like a command through the incipient twilight, he conveys the essential kindness of a ruler who can’t reverse a decree yet wriggles everything to happiness when give half a chance. His costume’s a fitting statement in scarlet and white. Assistant director Sarah Mann (a superb lady Macbeth) this time doesn’t act which I hope marks merely a break.

This is a light-footed, thump-fisted, limp-wristed and eye-poppingly uproarious production. It eschews some of the darker sexual undercurrents and the madness is restricted to a few swordfights and two trussed men. Long may this company tie up our attention of a summer evening.”

Fringe Review
Simon Jenner

An Honorary Man | Turning The Handle

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild
Performer: Philippa Hammond

“Philippa Hammond delivers two glimpses in this show, separated by 1,500 years but linked by a theme of women bowing to the will and needs of men. In the first she is Hypatia of Alexandria, a director of the library there. Or a pagan whore, if you believe the Christian hierarchy. Hypatia is, however, a full-blooded and beautiful woman, aware of the pleasures of her body and the delights of her mind. So much so that her students have voted her “an honorary man”. She accepts this dubious accolade with gentle irony. As she accepts her murder and mutilation with the inevitability of the conflict between pure intellect and religious dogma.

In the second piece, we are in Edwardian England and she is married, against her parents’ will, to a prototype film maker whom she supports in everything, even stripping for his “what the butler saw” movies. After losing her husband, she continues her career to support her children, having stoically traded her home life of Hampshire parties and Home Counties ease.

Hammond is served well by two three-dimensional, literate and dramatic scripts written by Thomas Everchild and she displays brilliant talent in interpreting them for us. It is spellbinding and entertaining, heart rending and humorous. An hour was all too short.”

The Scotsman
Roderick Graham

Little Girls Like To Kiss | Backstage Whispers

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild
Performer: Philippa Hammond

“Glimpse is a collection of four solo shows presented by Philippa Hammond, two at a time on alternate evenings. In this case it’s a smoke-filled 1940s private dick yarn and a take on life at the shallow end of the theatrical talent pool. And very good they are too.

The first, Little Girls Like to Kiss, shows the gumshoe’s ubiquitous breathy secretary in her own right. Marcia Blouse is long-suffering, pouting and wisecracking. She is also fragile – lost without the defining influence of her absent boss? Not likely – more afraid that others are about to discover her guilty secret.

Cracks in the cool, sassy facade grow and meet, forming a portrait of paranoia. Hammond herself twists with the plot her character reports; first manipulative and catty, then desperate and cornered. Ultimately Marcia survives, and takes control again. Fittingly, this brings out Hammond’s best – understated and impressively controlled.

The second vignette, Backstage Whispers, has the same sense of command in script and acting. Hammond excels as the aspiring actor and skirts around the pitfalls of self-indulgence with admirable restraint. Even the “behind the curtain” jokes are sharp and entertaining.

Again the writing is taut, wry and understated. At best reminiscent of Alan Bennet’s Talking Heads, this is a touching tale of a call-box tart who lives and dies in 18 lines. Glimpse is impressive, and well-named; fleeting moments of subtle theatrical insight.”

The Scotsman
James Kirkup

An Honorary Man | Turning the Handle | Little Girls Like to Kiss | Backstage Whispers

Tour venue: Marlborough Theatre, Brighton and Hove
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild
Performer: Philippa Hammond

Headline: “Glimpse Women Through the Ages”

“A hit from the Edinburgh Fringe festival was staged at the Marlborough Theatre last week, filling it with drama, suspense and genuine laughs. Glimpse is a collection of four one-act plays by Thomas Everchild, all performed by Philippa Hammond. Each monologue delves into a different character and spins a tale which reels the audience in as the dimensions unfold. Hammond expertly places her audience in the scene, deftly moving across centuries and cultures as she embodies the mind and motivations of four women.

First she is Hypatia, a fifth century scientist and philosopher who has been virtually erased from history. Her questioning curiosity and fascination with physics and philosophy leaves her unwilling to fall in line behind other women. But by opposing political dogma in her quest for knowledge, she poses a threat only to herself.

Transforming in character, Hammond next plays a very proper Edwardian lady, drawn into the seedier side of the emerging motion picture business. Hammond makes real the young girl dazzled by love and impelled by necessity. Her performance is subtle and evades sensation, while Everchild’s writing doesn’t blind us with its intentions.

While the settings may be historical, the themes translate easily into modern concerns. These women have stories which demonstrate a survival of spirit even when the odds are stacked against them.

The third play switches to a cinematic scene, set in Forties New York, behind the frosted glass window of a private eye’s office. Hammond senses her character in every movement, her gait falling into louche photographic poses …. What begins as comic book cliché becomes a plot of love, jealousy, paranoia and missing persons befitting a pulp detective paperback, with its deadly twist on the last page.

Finally, we are snapped back closer to home. Everchild’s understated writing becomes increasingly comic in a deadpan scene of amateur theatre, the confessions of a bit-part in a hopeless fringe production.

Glimpse is graspable, engrossing and very entertaining; channel-flicking glances at scenes you won’t want to switch over.”

The Argus
Lyndsey Winship

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Producer: Philippa Hammond
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild from Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure by John Cleland

Headline “Deliciously risqué play makes lust a big laugh“

“Fanny Hill first appeared with her Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure in literary circles in 1749, and it’s astonishing to think that for more than 200 years, until 1970, this book remained firmly on the banned list.

In Afterthought’s production a company of nine players sets about re-enacting the diary of the naive young country virgin turned expert pleasurer of gentlemen. Thomas Everchild’s adaptation for the stage catches the essential lusty humour and irreverence of John Cleland’s original book, and gives the cast a firm grounding from which to work.

The regal strains of the harpsichord link each scene and are in direct contrast to the starkness of the set, which is completely black but for two tables and a stool. This lack of set dressing concentrated the attention fully on the characters, relieved the audience of unwanted distractions, and brought the intricacies of the 18th century costumes – designed by Isobel Drury – to the fore.

Actress Philippa Hammond is instantly likeable as the much-sought-after Fanny, and brings an unexpected grace and vulnerability to the character. Between them the remainder of the cast portray myriad characters, presenting the illusion of a much larger company. As the perils of Mistress Fanny unfold, they manage a whirlwind of costume and character changes with ease. Some nice comic touches keep the pace up tempo. One scene in particular, in which an unwanted suitor tries to prise Fanny’s legs apart, is priceless. While some scenes are deliberately overplayed, the direction is always tasteful, and you never quite see as much as you imagine you have. Nevertheless, the inclusion of any number of peccadilloes, and an orgy scene, make this very definitely adults-only.

The whole piece is firmly set in the bawdy school of low humour. Touches of Benny Hill and Carry On surface briefly, but mostly the intelligent script explores the base reality behind the veneer of genteel respectability in an enchanting and highly entertaining way. The sex scenes are handled with either the aforementioned comic touch or, more often than not, a sensuality and sensitivity that is surprising and most welcome. While in this day and age Fanny Hill might be considered tame, its capacity to outrage is still there, as demonstrated. last night by the audience reaction to the naughtier scenes, and outrage is an element that this production uses to its best advantage.

Afterthought Productions have a scorcher of a show on their hands with this one. It’s sure to be a hit with Fringe audiences. Get your ticket now, because Fanny Hill is going to sell out.”

Edinburgh Evening News
Liam Rudden

Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Producer: Philippa Hammond
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild, from Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure by John Cleland

“For those of you unaware of the book, Fanny Hill is a scandalous piece of Georgian erotic fiction that falls into the British tradition of bawdiness somewhere between Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones and Joan Collins’ The Stud.

Like Tom Jones, it is an odyssey from innocence and into the high fashion, sophisticated tastes and debauchery of the London of Hogarth and Dr Johnson. The Madames, rakes, fops and sailors of this time are wonderfully evoked and the erotic adventures and encounters of our heroine vividly realised. That Philippa Hammond, in the role of Fanny, can narrate at the same time as simulating a good back-alley rogering is remarkable.

It would be wrong, though, to mistake Fanny Hill for being some sort of cheap thrill theatre. Philippa Hammond, who besides playing the lead is the driving force behind the production, realises the piece in some style. To adapt such a notorious work of fiction as this cannot have been an easy task. But it is one that the ensemble cast uniformly rise to. In this they are aided by an admirable collection of period costumes of West End standard.

This is a genuinely good production. It is adult and includes a good deal of nudity though nothing too explicit; it’s very rude, often funny, but without ever descending into bad taste. Fringe drama doesn’t come any more stimulating than this.”

The List
Ross Holloway

Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild
Performer: Philippa Hammond

“One-act plays are the theatrical equivalent of a short story and require the same rules to work. Character and plot development must rely on established shorthand and the drama needs a twist. In the monologue Turning The Handle, Philippa Hammond portrayed an artless Edwardian lady recalling life and love in front of an early cinematograph, apparently never quite realising the effect of loosening draperies on her audience. It was a charming solo turn, written and directed to be beautifully out of kilter by Thomas Everchild.”

The Argus
Louise Schweitzer

Short Play Night at The Barn Theatre, Shoreham
Writer/Director: Thomas Everchild
Performers: Philippa Hammond, Thomas Everchild

…Appearing in The Neverland Singularity [which he also wrote], Thomas Everchild played a taxi driver taking a scientist to a conference . Stuck in a traffic jam he tried to engage his fare in conversation which ranged from evolution and the existence of God to physics. With Philippa Hammond as his hapless passenger they provided extremely good comedy.”

The Argus
Barrie Jerram