Biography
Other activities:
Tyrone served eleven years on the Board of Phoenix Dance Company, Leeds (Chair 1997-2001); six years on the Board of Birmingham Repertory Theatre (1999-2005); and was a member of Arts Council England, West Midlands Regional Council 2002-2008. Chair of Sustained Theatre National Artist Team (2009-2011) and Chair of Sustained Theatre West Midlands Hub (2007-2010). He is currently a Trustee of the Belgrade Theatre.
Actor/Performer:
Tyrone has over 45 years experience as an actor and performer in productions at many repertory theatres and arts centres in Britain, including Glasgow Citizens, Nottingham Playhouse, Contact Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse and the Royal National Theatre - where he played in David Hare’s Murmuring Judges and The Absence Of War. At West Yorkshire Playhouse he played the central role in the world premier of Wole Soyinka’s Beatification of Area Boy. At The Garrick Theatre in August Wilson’s Fences and Of Mice & Men, for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Noughts & Crosses, for the Royal Opera House he played King Garnet in Sun and Heir.
He co-founded the experimental/visual company Impact Theatre Co-operative, touring with them nationally and internationally in thirteen devised productions over five years. After Impact he developed his skills as a light and sound technician, and set-builder working with other small-scale companies including People Show, Hesitate & Demonstrate, and Cliffhanger.
Radio, Television, Film:
Many appearances on Radio including The Midwich Cuckoos, The Diary Of Adam & Eve, The Angel Of New Street, Raising The Sage, The Archers and Amsterdam by Lenny Henry etc. TV appearances include Small Axe: Mangrove, Black Earth Rising, Seaview, Kiss Me First, Death In Paradise, Doctors, Crown Court, Emmerdale Farm, Travelling Man, Bergerac, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Grafters, Holby City, Casualty, Eastenders, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Rome, A Serpent In Eden etc. Film appearances include The Last Day (winning 5 Best Actor awards), Trouble, The Last Client, On Road and feature Run Fat Boy Run.
Writing:
Twelve commissioned plays, including CHOO CHOO CH’ BOOGIE (1989) for Bolton Octagon. THE CARVER CHAIR (1991) for Contact Theatre, Manchester. EMIGRATING HOME (1993) radio play for BBC Radio 4. Dance pieces SHARED TESTAMENT (1994), and PHOENIX ANTHOLOGY:19 (2000) for RJC and Phoenix Dance Companies respectively. SOUNDS...IN SESSION (1994) for Paines Plough published by Oberon Books [ISBN: 1-84002-096-2]. GARRET AUGUSTUS MORGAN (2001), remained in repertoire at the Science Museum for several years. PLATFORM TALES (2002) for West Sussex County Youth Theatre. THE HONEY MAN (2012) produced by New Perspectives and in 2015. THE WINDRUSH MONOLOGUES (2020), TRAITS (2014) monologues about Sickle Cell and Thalassemia for Women & Theatre. DEATH OF BIG MAN for Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He was an Eclipse Revolution Mix writer. In 2023 he wrote a film script DETAILS ARE IMPORTANT, due to be filmed in summer 2024.
Tyrone has also written essays on Culture, Theatre in a Scientific Age, Memory and Race. And a New Wolsey Theatre commissioned narrative THE ECLIPSE THEATRE STORY - a revealing insight into contemporary British theatre and a strategy to address diversity, published in 2006. He has directed more than 20 productions. And collaborated as writer and lead artist with choreographers in Kenya and South Africa to produce a collection of Dance Pieces The Suitcase Ballet, The Flash Mob inspired by his script Platform Tales, & Raundi Mwenda (Crazy Trip) which developed techniques for the use of AR in dance performance.
Recent theatre credits include:
To Move In Time, a collaboration with Forced Entertainment written and directed by Tim Etchells, Mademoiselle F by Vanessa Oakes, AI at Young Vic directed by Jennifer Tang, Black Men Walking for Eclipse by Testament, and as Prospero in The Tempest, alongside Opening Skinner’s Box both directed by Phelim McDermott for Improbable. Earlier performance work includes Always Orange and Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier at The Other Place’s reopening for the RSC, directed by Donnacadh O Brien and Nadia Latif respectively, Aegisthus in Electra with Kristin Scott Thomas at the Old Vic directed by Ian Rickson, Sonia Friedman production. Tyrone played Honey Man in his own play The Honey Man produced by Judy Owen in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, directed by Emma Bernard. I Was A Rat! a coproduction with Teatro Kismet, Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse and New Wolsey directed by Teresa Ludovico, Gloucester in YPS Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company directed by Tim Crouch touring UK and USA.
Photo: Kirill Kozlov