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Philip Quast is one of Australia's most successful and versatile performing artists. The man with the distinctive name is known to little Australians as Philip, a presenter of the ABC's Play School for the past 12 years.
The fun-loving, multi-talented and busy actor-singer deliberately diversified into several performing art forms to keep himself employed in musicals, theatre, television and musical recordings. Quast grew up in Tamworth, studied drama at Armidale's University of New England, then went to the National Institute of Dramatic Art. His latest recording is called Oombabaroombah for Play School.
He would not be photographed with a teddy bear because that would be disloyal to Play School's fragile Little Ted who is 25 years old and has had "all his fur loved off''.
Besides, a teddy bear had little to do with his role as Dr Neville Craven in the musical The Secret Garden with Anthony Warlow, Marina Prior and June Salter at the Lyric Theatre from July 27.
Quast's character is a curt misery-maker who secretly loved his brother's wife. The Secret Garden shows how a child rediscovers life in a barren garden and rejuvenates a crumbling household. "It shows that there are always wonderful things in the world, even when things seem bleak,'' said Quast. "Society would be much healthier if more money was spent on
education and culture because imagination and play were very important to human life and learning" - he said." I am very much committed to the ideologies of Play School or learning through play. Play School is not just a job which I take when I have nothing better to do. It reminds me to be childlike and have fun.''
The programme for children aged up to four helped to develop listening skills, motor co-ordination, language, social skills and imagination.
"Unfortunately, in a world that has everything to do with communication at its fingertips, we are actually communicating less because everything is trivialised'' - he said.
He has two children aged 5 and 3, with another on the way. The 38-year-old, 1.93cm actor-singer took his children to see Tokyo's Disneyland, and went back after they returned to Australia because he wanted to go on the Space Mountain ride. His career soared after his multi-award winning portrayal of Javert in the original Australian production of Les Misérables, which also featured Prior and Warlow.
© Queensland Newspapers
