Phillipa Bowe
Phillipa Bowe
Actor
Phillipa is a Brisbane based performer, passionate about her craft, with over thirty years of stage experience.
Biography
Phillipa is a passionate performer, with over thirty years of stage experience in community and independent theatre. Originally from Sydney, she has made Brisbane her home for the last 17 years.
Training includes Grade Eight Speech and Drama and Advance Performance Certificate with Trinity College London and a Diploma of Drama from Riverside Studios Sydney. Earlier stage experience focused on musical theatre with roles as leads, character, and ensemble. Productions ranged from classic to modern: - Gilbert & Sullivan, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim, Schonberg & Bulbil. In later years Phillipa has combined musicals with roles in plays with performances in Shakespeare, classical English and American, farce and modern Australian. She particularly loves comedic roles with clever dialogue.
Phillipa considers herself very fortunate to have worked on and off stage with wonderful creatives who share her joy and love of theatre. It's not often you get to have two lives. The everyday life of work and family and then that other magical stage life where you get to outsmart the Nazis, lose a baby and a handbag, gossip and drink tea in Austen's Regency England, dance for fifteen years in the Hotbox Nightclub, have nine children in Maine and kiss a lot of boys in Oklahoma. It's been a varied and wonderful stage life.
Her other love is singing, and she has been a participant in choirs and music ensembles since her school days. She is currently an enthusiastic member of Brisbane based choir Cheep Trills, led by the talented Emma Dean.
Ad Astra Plays
Upcoming Plays
Past Plays
Other Plays, Musicals and Film
2022 - Oliver! (Theatre), Savoyards Musical Theatre, Actor – Widow Corney
2021 – Summer Rain (Theatre), Villanova Players, Actor – Maise Trengrove
2020 – Minefields and Miniskirts (Theatre), Redcliffe Theatre, Actor – Kathy
2019 – Beauty and The Beast (Theatre), Phoenix Ensemble, Actor – The Wardrobe Madame De la Grande Bouche
2018 – High Society (Theatre), Villanova Players, Actor – Margaret Mother Lord
2018 – As You Like It (Theatre), Nash Theatre, Actor – Duke Senior
2017 – Lady Windermere's Fan (Theatre), Nash Theatre, Actor – Duchess of Berwick
2017 – Sense and Sensibility (Theatre), Brisbane Arts Theatre, Actor – Mrs Jennings
2016 – The Importance of Being Ernest (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Actor – Miss Laetitia Prism
2016 – The Wedding Singer (Theatre), Phoenix Ensemble, Actor – Rosie Hart
2015 – The First (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Director
2014 – The Addams Family Musical (Theatre), Brisbane Arts Theatre, Actor – Granma Addams
2014 – The Secret Garden (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Actor – Claire Holmes
2013 – The Music Man (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Actor – Widow Paroo
2013 – Powerfully Fragile (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Actor – One
2012– The Knock at the Door (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Actor - Gladys
2012 – Dinkum Assorted (Theatre), Beenleigh Theatre, Actor - Grace
2011 – The Sound of Music (Theatre), Phoenix Ensemble – Mother Abbess
2011 – The Private War of Corporal Cooper (Theatre), Sunnybank Theatre – Sr Mary Bartholomew
Representation
Freelance
“Keeping the humour to the fore are wonderfully accomplished character performances. Phillipa Bowe is the unintentionally hilarious Aunt Ruth – whose TV soap addiction and hypochondria gets her through the day. (Her medical device that accidentally sets off the automatic garage door is so funny it has got to be based on a true incident.)”
Beth Keehn - Stage Whispers | Read full review
Phillipa Bowe as Aunt Ruth is the comedic genius of this production. Bowe’s movement and characterisation is hilarious as the eccentric older aunt that we all have in our family! Bowe creates light in every situation and helps the cast lift on stage.
Jake Goodall | Read full review
Phillipa Rowe as Granma was a hoot, and always knows how to milk the most out of a comedic character
Bobbi-Lea Dionysius - AustralianTheatre.com
Bowe makes for a memorable Duchess Carlisle too, animated in her Lady Bracknell type judgment, passive aggression and the gossipy suggestions which set off a chain of events.
Meredith Walker – Blue Curtain
Duchess Carlisle is the sort of part that can steal a show and Phillipa Bowe played it to the hilt, much to the enjoyment of all.
William Davies – Stage Whispers
Bowe was a riot as the dirty-talking, rapping Grandma.
Peter Pinne - Stage Whispers
Equally, Philippa Bowe as the well-meaning Mrs Jennings is wonderfully funny, making her high-pitched way throughout all her scenes with much enthusiasm. Without the exceptional work of Grey and Bowe, Sense and Sensibility might have dwindled into something much more lacklustre
Phoebe Clarke - Weekend Notes
Phillipa Bowe’s nurse, Kathy, was portrayed with passion, joy and honesty. Even though much of what she had to deal with was horrendous, her sense of humour still prevailed. Bowe is also a performer who understands the power of stillness and reflection, continuing the thought process long after her monologues ended.
Sandra Harman - Theatre Haus
Awards
2012 – Redfest Theatre Festival, Best actress in festival, winner