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The Aussie star is coming home for the launch of a new musical and the birth of his third son
Versatile actor Philip Quast is returning home to Australia for two major new productions - the launch of the musical The Secret Garden and the birth of his third child.
Philip is set to begin rehearsals for The Secret Garden at Brisbane’s new arts centre on June 20, and his wife Carol is due to have the baby - their third boy – on June 26.
The timing may not be ideal but the couple is delight that at least one of their children will be born in Australia. Sons Edwin, 5, and Harry, 3, were born in London.
"Every time we come over here Carol gets pregnant," jokes the popular former Play School presenter.
Playing with the two boys in the living-room of their rented flat in Battersea, south-west London, Carol says "It is going to be lovely having my family around me for the first time. Both of us come from close families and it is difficult being away from them."
One of Australia's top musical stars, Philip, 38, has also made a name for himself on the London stage, performing both straight and musical roles. He first came to the attention of British audiences while playing Javert in Les Misérables in Manchester in 1989 and later reprised the role in the West End.
In 1990 he won the prestigious Olivier Award - best male performer in a musical - for Sunday in the Park with George at the Royal National Theatre.
More recently, Philip returned to the West End for Australian director Gale Edward's spirited production of George Bernard Shaw's masterpiece Saint Joan.
He is now performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at London's Barbican Theatre in Love's Labours Lost, and will tour Japan with the Shakespearean comedy before flying home at the start of May.
Although Philip is looking forward to working in Australia again, he initially turned down the part of the wicked uncle in The Secret Garden, first staged on Broadway three years ago. He says "I wasn't interested, but then I met the (American) director Susan Schulman in London and she impressed me so much that I wanted to do it."
Based on the classic Victorian novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden is the story of orphan Mary, sent to live with her reclusive uncle Archibald on the Yorkshire moors. She befriends her invalid cousin Colin, whose mother died in childbirth, and together they unlock the secret garden of the title.
Phantom Of The Opera star Anthony Warlow plays Archibald, while Philip is Archibald's doctor brother, who schemes to keep Colin ill so he can inherit the family estate himself. Marina Prior (Christine in Phantom of the Opera) plays the ghost of Colin's dead mother.
Philip, the son of a turkey farmer from Tamworth in NSW, became a household name in Australia through his regular appearances in the ABC's acclaimed Play School series. But he has also achieved a rare crossover career that encompasses TV, musicals and lead roles with all state theatre companies.
Over the past couple of years he has played Tullus Aufidius in Gale Edwards' award-winning Sydney production of Coriolanus, starred in the controversial ABC series The Damnation of Harvey McHugh and made a new PlaySchool album.
His focus now is Shakespeare, and he has been invited to perform two guest roles - King of Navarre in Love's Labours Lost and Scrooge's nephew Fred in Dicken's Christmas Carol at the RSC this season.
Philip wants to save enough money to be able to move his family to Stratford-upon-Avon next year for a two-year stint with the RSC.
"Shakespeare helps you with everything else you do," he says. "You don't get paid very much and it's a full-time commitment for two years."
Although Philip is convinced Australia is the best place to bring up children, he finds it easier to keep the family together if they are UK-based.
"It seems you can work here and not have to leave your family," he says.
Unassuming Philip prefers to take roles that interest him rather than ones that will feed his ego. But this does not stop overzealous fans pursuing him, and the handsome actor admits he has been plagued by female admirers in the past.
He reveals how a British woman followed him to Australia with her husband, just to see him perform in Coriolanus. She also bombarded him with 30-page letters up to five times a week, and sent him endless gifts after first seeing him in Les Misérables in Britain.
Another fan, a Japanese flight attendant, used to send him a dozen long-stemmed red roses every week, and two middle-aged women used to turn up almost daily at the theatre in Sydney where he was performing in Les Mis.
Philip stresses that he has never been harassed by any of his fans, but says he finds the attention overwhelming at times.
"They want to be your friend, and I suppose it’s partly my fault for stopping to talk to them or replying to their letters.
"You have got to be careful about people’s feelings. They think they own you, and to a certain extent they do, because they’ve paid money to come and see you. If you chose to be in the public eye, you have to put up with that."
