Radiant Vermin

Philip was born and grew up in the East End of London. He studied painting at St Martin’s School of Art. He has written many highly regarded and hugely influential stage plays: the seminal The Pitchfork Disney (now published as a Methuen Modern Classic), The Fastest Clock in the Universe (winner of a Time Out Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the Meyer-Whitworth Prize), Ghost from a Perfect Place, Vincent River (nominated for the London Festival Fringe Best Play Award), the highly controversial Mercury Fur, Leaves of Glass, Piranha Heights (nominated for the WhatsOnStage Mobius Award for Best Off West End Production), Tender Napalm (nominated for the London Fringe Best Play Award), Shivered (nominated for the OffWestEnd Best New Play Award), Dark Vanilla Jungle (winner of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award), Radiant Vermin (now published as a Methuen Modern Classic), Tonight With Donny Stixx, Karagula (nominated for the OffWestEnd Best New Play Award), The Beast of Blue Yonder, The Poltergeist (winner of the OffWestEnd OnComm Award for Best Live Streamed Play) and Tarantula; plus several plays for young people (collectively known as The Storyteller Sequence): Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece (named as one of the 50 Best Works About Cultural Diversity by the National Centre for Children’s Books), the seminal Sparkleshark (the first of the Connections Festival plays for young people to be staged professionally by the National Theatre), and Brokenville; also, Feathers in the Snow (shortlisted for the Brian Way Best Play Award).

André is an Edinburgh-Based, Maltese Theatre Director and Theatre-Maker. He directs and creates theatre which is playful, experimental, and full of risk-taking. André works across different styles and genres, from new-writing to contemporary re-tellings and modern classics. He is especially interested in contemporary re-stagings, adaptations and re-inventions of classical texts.

Born and raised in Malta, André has been Artistic Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival‘s EXPO Funded Scotland Through Time Shows, Associate Director to Wils Wilson on David Greig's 'Two Sisters' at the Lyceum Theatre and Assistant Producer on the Royal Lyceum Theatre's 'Wonder Festival'. He has directed the show Utter Filth at the Traverse Theatre and has regularly directed for ‘A Play, A Pie & A Pint’ including the ‘Impromptu at Òran Mór’ by Morna Pearson, after Moliere and Tamam Shud by Thomas Jancis.

In Malta, he has directed mainstage shows that include the 5-star "Delicious and Brutal" God Of Carnage by Yazmina Reza for the National Theatre of Malta,  A Translation of Harold Pinter’s The Hot House for the National Theatre Company (Teatru Malta), David Hare’s Skylight, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt with the original orchestrations for Malta’s National Philharmonic Orchestra and has also served as a dramaturg on a production for the National Dance Company, Żfin Malta. He has also been Assistant Festival Manager of the ŻiguŻajg International Festival for Arts Festival for Children & Young People and Assistant Artistic Director of The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Opening Ceremony and Artistic Events.

André has also directed shows that have premiered at the Sharjah Heritage Days in Dubai, The Robert Lewis Stevenson Festival and the Babel International Theatre Festival in Romania.

André holds an MFA in Directing from Edinburgh Napier, under the mentorship of Mark Thomson, A BA (Hons) in Theatre Studies from the University of Malta and a Diploma in Speech and Drama from Trinity College. He has also trained at Rose Bruford College, Odin Teatret in Denmark and at the István Örkény Theatre in Budapest.