Christopher Bowen

CHRISTOPHER BOWEN

Chris trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and got an Equity card at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea in 1981.

He went on to spend three years with the RSC performing at Stratford, Newcastle and the Barbican Centre. Productions included: Macbeth (Bob Peck and Sara Kestleman), Peer Gynt (Derek Jacobi), Moliere (Antony Sher), The Taming of the Shrew (Alan Armstrong and Sinead Cusack), The Body (Pete Postlethwaite, Clive Wood), Softcops (Malcolm Storry, Ian Talbot, Geoffrey Freshwater). Chris then toured Europe and spent six months on Broadway with the same company. In the New York productions he played Viscount Valvert in Cyrano de Bergerac and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing with Derek Jacobi and Sinead Cusack.

More theatre followed, first the Edinburgh Lyceum to play Malcolm in Macbeth (Jonathan Hyde, Julie Covington) and then in the West End at the Haymarket in Antony and Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew (Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton).

After a few early excursions in TV with Dempsey and Makepeace and Big Deal, Chris landed the lead role of Johnnie Dexter in Tanamera; The Lion of Singapore, a huge ratings success for Central TV in 1988.

More television came with Dr Who, The Shell-Seekers, Soldier,Soldier and Waiting for God. In the USA he played the title in a pilot for The Darkman, based on the Sam Raimi film, and also starred in South Beach for Universal/CBS. Back in the UK and after a theatre tour of Noel Coward’s Private Lives, playing Victor, there came a 24-episode stint in Castles for the BBC as well as a feature film breakthrough in Richard III (shot between the eyes by Ian McKellen’s Gloucester). This led to more film work in 1997; Cold Comfort Farm (as Charles, Kate Beckinsale’s boyfriend) directed by John Schlesinger and then the Bond Film, Tomorrow Never Dies (as Commander Day of HMS Devonshire).

A mix of theatre and television work came next with Hamlet (Laertes) at the Young Vic, Heartbeat for YTV, the feature-length Poirot; Murder in Mesopotamia for ITV and the Baron who doesn’t back down from Robert Carlyle’s Hitler in Rise of Evil. There were also two fringe plays in this period, Franziska by Wedekind at the Gate Theatre and The Country by Martin Crimp at the Warwick Arts. He also played the title role in Macbeth at the Southwark Playhouse in 2006.

Most recently Chris has been heard as the narrator of A Year in Tibet on BBC4 and been seen in Holby City as the dodgy geography teacher, Ant Johnston and in Jane Eyre as Mr. Briggs the solicitor who stops the wedding.
THEATRE
Mrs Warrens Profession (Praed) Dir: Paul Milton, Everyman Theatre (19–27 June 2015) and
14th July 2015 to Sat, 18th July 2015, The Playhouse, Oxford»
Tue, 21st July 2015 to Sat, 25th July 2015, Arts Theatre, Cambridge»

Macbeth (Macbeth) Dir: Andy Brereton, Southwark Playhouse, 2006
The Country (Richard) Dir: Lucy Watson, Warwick Arts Theatre, 2005
Cyrano de Bergerac (Le Comte De Guiche) Dir: Patrick Sandford, Nuffield Southampton, 2002
Hamlet (Laertes) Dir: Lawrence Boswell, Young Vic/Tokyo Globe, 1999
Franziska (Veit Kunz) Dir: Georgina Van Welie, Gate Theatre, 1998
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon) Dir: Sue Parrish, City of London Festival, 1997
Private Lives (Victor) Dir: Lou Stein, Palace Theatre Watford & Tour, 1994
She Stoops to Conquer (Marlow) Dir: Graham Callan, Salisbury Playhouse, 1988
The Curse of the Baskervilles (Stapleton) Dir: Roger Redfarn, Theatre Royal Plymouth, 1986
Macbeth (Malcolm) Dir: Jules Wright, Lyceum Edinburgh, 1985
The Taming of the Shrew (The Lord/Curtis) Dir: Toby Robertson, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1986
Antony and Cleopatra (Maecenas) Dir: Toby Robertson, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1986
See How They Run (Clive Winton) Dir: Toby Robertson, Theatr Clwyd, 1985
Cyrano de Bergerac (Viscomte Valvert) Dir: Terry Hands, RSC/Broadway, 1984
Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio) Dir: Terry Hands, RSC/Broadway, 1984
Derek (Biff) Dir: Nick Hamm, RSC, 1983
The Body (Chorus) Dir: Nick Hamm, RSC, 1983
Softcops (Jacques Duval) Dir: Howard Davies, RSC, 1983
Macbeth (Young Seyward) Dir: Howard Davies, RSC, 1982
The Taming of the Shrew (Huntsman) Dir: Barry Kyle, RSC, 1982
Moliere (Lagrange) Dir: Bill Alexander, RSC, 1982

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