One of Bendigo’s sons will be welcomed home tonight, on stage at The Capital.
Former Bendigo boy-turned-actor Stephen Phillips will play the role of Orlando in Bell Shakespeare Company’s As You Like It.
Stephen was a drama student at Girton Grammar and Bendigo Senior Secondary College  in the early 1990s.
He graduated from the Sydney Actor’s School in 2000 and from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2002.
Since then he has appeared in various Melbourne Theatre Company productions, such as Metamorphoses and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and with Bell Shakespeare in The Tempest.
His other stage credits include The Odyssey for Malthouse and Black Swan Theatre Company, and Taize for Castlemaine State Festival.
On television he has appeared in Blue Heelers, Neighbours, Love Letters and Last Man Standing.
Stephen also works as an audio-book narrator for Vision Australia Foundation and Bolinda Publishing, and has done various play readings for ABC Radio including Jane Bodie’s Out of Sound and Michael Leunig’s Mr Curly Letters.
During his stay in Bendigo, Stephen will share acting experiences with drama students at Bendigo Senior Secondary College.
As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s most frequently performed comedies.
The story follows the course to a place where running from loneliness, ageing and questioning loyalties gives way to friendship and a taste of love in a hostile, confusing world.
In the forest of Arden, brothers, lovers, friends and foe are tricked, tried and tested in a pastoral pastiche of life, love and the whole damn thing.
The character Rosalind goes undercover to right wrongs and in the process, develops a surprising insight into matters of the heart.
Bright, breezy, and reminiscent of the best holiday you ever had, As You Like It, directed by John Bell and starring Saskia Smith, is a comedy for anyone who has ever contemplated packing it all in for a simpler life.
For information on the performance, phone The Capital on 5434-6100.