THEATRE PEOPLE IN NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST 2004

THEATRE PEOPLE IN NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST

Theatre people in the New Year Honours List include comedian & actor Eric Sykes (CBE); actress Anna Massey (CBE); playwright & director Ray Cooney (OBE); playwright Alan Plater (CBE); and former Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Stratford East Philip Hedley (CBE)

Playwright Alan Plater (CBE) is 69 Years old. His playwright credits on the London stage in recent years include "Peggy For You" at the Comedy Theatre in 2000. His recent tv credits includes "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells" in 2000. His other TV series include "Dalziel and Pascoe", "A Very British Coup", "The Barchester Chronicles", "The Beiderbecke Affair", "Oliver's Travels" and "Fortunes of War".

Philip Hedley (CBE) is best-known for his 25 years as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Stratford East, from which post he resigned in September 2004. At Theatre Royal, he staged over 200 premieres of plays and musicals. He put on the only professional English-language production ever of Lorca's play "The Public", which championed homosexual love. Among his shows which transferred to the West End were "Steaming", "The Invisible Man", Ken Hill's "Phantom of the Opera" and "Five Guys Named Moe". Philip's name is closely identified with the championing of ethnic minority artists in theatre.