Bio

Phil Mansell originally trained at the London Film School where he specialised in script-writing, directing and animation, and had three films screened at the National Film Theatre.

After teaching film-making, photography and art, he moved into the world of advertising and PR and was a professional writer until he took early retirement from his job as Press and Communications Officer at the University of Wales, Newport where he also gained an MA in Multimedia and Information Design.

His full length play According to Claudia was selected by Newport Playgoers Society to launch their 92^nd season and won the Award for Theatre Show of the Year 2014 presented by entertainment and lifestyle magazine Voice. It also won the Best Play Award presented by the Gwent Drama League.

Poor Yorick was a winning entry in a competition run as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages project and was performed at both the 400-seat Dolman Theatre and Blackwood Little Theatre. In July 2018 Phil directed a revised version of Poor Yorick for Javea Players at the Xabia Casa de Cultura – the play ran for six nights and received excellent reviews.

Phil’s play Bunkered was a winning entry in a golf-themed play-writing competition, judged by celebrated Welsh playwright Frank Vickery, to celebrate the Ryder Cup being held in Newport. The play enjoyed a week long run at the Dolman Theatre. Caddying for Godot, a homage to Samuel Beckett, was short-listed in the same competition.

He has had 10 plays published by Stage Scripts Ltd and these have been performed by many drama groups and schools in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. His latest play Look Out – He’s Got A Gun premiered at the Studio Theatre, Jávea in December 2019.  Phil has also had five books published in the Netherlands and Denmark, three books for teenagers and two books, which he also illustrated, for younger children. He has published two children’s books on Amazon: Uncle Mungo and the Great Wallaby Painting Contest and Arabella Saturday and the Circus Next Door. More details are available on his author’s page. He is currently working on more children’s books and has recently taken up oil painting – which you can see by clicking here or on the My Artwork link above.