Simon Bird (I)
- 40 years old
- English
- Actor, writer, director, producer and executive producer
Press clippings Page 11
TV sitcom's shocking sixth-form gang regroup and head to Crete in this big-screen, lads-abroad excursion. Nerdy Simon Bird, soppy Joe Thomas, dopey Blake Harrison and gobsmackingly crude James Buckley get up to all sorts of excruciatingly crass antics, but as in the TV show, there's sympathy too, for their teenaged, hormonally challenged predicament.
Paul Howlett, The Guardian, 19th June 2017Review: The Philanthropist
The opening scene of The Philanthropist is ingenious, and provides a genuinely shocking comic moment that I'm unlikely to ever forget. So it's a shame that the rest of the play never really lives up to these first few minutes.
The Velvet Onion, 20th May 2017The Philanthropist review
Across the board, supposedly soul-searching scenes often come to sound more like shallow, self-centred millennial whines than the intended existential angst.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 27th April 2017Review: The Philanthropist
The audience liked it, and though it won't be remembered as one of the year's great plays, it was good to see a work by a classic playwright in a new production with a cast not used to this form.
Beatrix Swanson Scott, A Younger Theatre, 25th April 2017The Philanthropist review
This is dated beyond belief and either needs urgent freshening up or leaving it to its past.
Carns Theatre Passion, 24th April 2017Review: The Philanthropist
A combination of bad casting and lacklustre directing from Simon Callow leads to an ultimately disappointing evening; the greatest act of philanthropy would be to scrap it and start again.
Danny Coleman-Cooke, BritishTheatre.com, 22nd April 2017Review: The Philanthropist
So as a period piece, it rang true; and Bird's and Cole's performances in particular left me convinced and rather sorrowful.
Libby Purves, My Theatre Mates, 22nd April 2017Review: The Philanthropist
The Philanthropist isn't a bad show. There are some very funny moments and the concept of the piece is an interesting one. Definitely worth going to see if you like the sound of it.
West End Wilma, 22nd April 2017Review: The Philanthropist
You'd have to be a very generous philanthropist to recommend it as a night out.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 22nd April 2017The Philanthropist review
I love the play, but I think the age of the actors matters far less than their depth of experience and understanding.
Michael Billington, The Guardian, 21st April 2017