Unity Theatre's Graeme Phillips dies aged 77

Former Unity Theatre artistic director, and leading figure in the Liverpool arts community, Graeme Phillips has died at the age of 77 it has been announced.

Phillips, who retired from the Hope Place theatre in 2015 after 33 years at the venue, had been living with Parkinson’s and it is understood he died from complications related to the disease.

The Central School of Speech and Drama-educated Phillips worked extensively at venues and organisations across the country before he arrived in Liverpool in 1982 to join the then-Merseyside Unity Theatre and became its artistic director in the early 1990s.

During his time at the venue he oversaw two capital redevelopments which helped transform the Unity into an increasingly successful state-of-the-art small-scale theatre and, latterly, an Arts Council-funded National Portfolio Organisation. In the same year he retired he was made an MBE for services to the arts in Liverpool.

He was also instrumental in starting the annual Homotopia festival and founding FACT.

Despite his recent health issues, he continued to work in the arts.

Last year directed a revival of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, a play he had loved since his youth, when he played the title role at the age of 17, and to which he brought his own experience of dementia to the production.

Above: Liverpool's Unity Theatre. Top: Former artistic director Graeme Phillips who has died aged 77.

Meanwhile, since April this year he had been working on a new production of Jean Genet’s The Maids, which will be presented in October.

Phillips died in his sleep at Green Heys Care Home, where he had been living since the acceleration of Lewy Body dementia in 2021.

The Unity’s current artistic director Elinor Randle said today: “Graeme has been such an incredible inspiration to me, and to so many artists in the city and beyond.

“He poured his heart into making Unity a true home for brilliant, daring, and experimental new work, and gave countless people the chance to bring their creative dreams to life.

“His 30 years at Unity have left a lasting mark, and I feel so proud to be carrying his legacy forward, something I could never have done without his generosity, guidance, and friendship.

“He will be deeply missed, but his spirit will always live on in Unity and in those us of whose lives he touched."

A celebration of Phillips' life will be announced by the theatre.