George Dillon

"The best example of someone to watch how to perform is George Dillon… Physical theatre suggests working with the body and not with the voice, but the uniqueness with George is that he's an excellent speaker with a wide vocal range and is able to marry the two parts… George sniffs out what's underneath the surface, but he's gone much further than I ever did; areas into which I just gently dipped my toe he has plunged from the cliffs headfirst." STEVEN BERKOFF

Since 1990, for his own Vital Theatre, George Dillon has created and extensively toured six solo shows including Judgement, Stunning the Punters (and Other Stories), Hell and Other Tales, and The Remembrance of Edgar Allan Poe. As well as George's solo shows, he has produced and starred in a "negative-equity" reconception of Decadence and a controversial Kurosawa/Tarantino inspired Hamlet with a company of 7 actors, 2 musicians and a talking dog!

Besides Hamlet and 5 of his own solo shows, Dillon has also directed the world premiere of Berkoff’s Brighton Beach Scumbags, Guy Masterson's solo Under Milk Wood and Jade Blue's solo To Break a Man.

At the Edinburgh Festival in 2000 George's performance of Graft - Tales of an Actor won a Herald 'Angel' award and has since toured in the UK and Europe.  In 2002 Dillon translated, directed and performed in a solo multimedia production of The Gospel of Matthew for the Brighton Festival, which went on to earn him a second nomination for the Stage's 'Best Actor' award at Edinburgh, was filmed and broadcast on Scottish TV and has also toured internationally.  In 2007, Dillon restaged The Gospel of Matthew by Candlelight, and directed an intensive 2-week experimental actor's training programme, Ecce Homo.

On graduating from Manchester University, where he first acted in Berkoff's East and worked with Laurence Boswell and Ben Elton, Dillon formed No Alternative with Denise Evans and toured Berkoff's Decadence and Greek for the next 3 years before working with Steven Berkoff for the first time in 1986, appearing in Sink The Belgrano! He was assistant director to Steven Berkoff for Oscar Wilde's Salomé (in which he also performed) at the National Theatre in 1989 and had, to date, been assistant director and/or performer with Berkoff four times. Including his own productions, Dillon has worked on a total of 13 productions of Berkoff's work.

Like his mentor's, Dillon’s work aims to empower the performer and draws on a wide range of eclectic influences particularly his 17 years of training in Kendō – the Japanese ‘Way of the Sword’.

George Dillon has also worked professionally in films, t.v., fringe and repertory theatre. He made his film debut in 1987 in Hannah's War, has twice played the drug dealer of the week on The Bill and his most recent screen appearance was in The Deaths of Ian Stone. Repertory theatre work has included appearances as Victor in Frankenstein at York's Theatre Royal and as Long in The Hairy Ape at Bristol Old Vic. With other Brighton-based companies he has played Ralph Gorse in The West Pier for Pavilion Productions, Johnny Rotten in Pistols for Hanover Productions, Charlie Chaplin in Fireraiser's The Secret Life of Charlie Chaplin at the Edinburgh Festival and Jason/Creon/Aegeus in Medea for Company:Collisions in Cyprus and Albania. As a voice over artist he has worked regularly on The Late Show, and voiced a documentary The True Curse of the Mummy and a CD-Rom for The Dyslexia Institute.

George Dillon is also an experienced teacher and workshop leader. He trained in TEFL in 1987 and then taught for 18-months at language schools in Brighton and London. In 1989 he was invited by the National Theatre Education Department to perform in and later to give workshops on Berkoff's Metamorphosis, and since then he has led nearly 200 workshops with professionals and students of various age groups, in schools and arts centres both in the U.K. and abroad.

Founded upon his experience of nearly 30 years as a performer, director, teacher and martial artist, George Dillon's workshops are, like his performances, intense, entertaining and provocative.  Tailoring each session to the abilities and requirements of the group and the moment, his main aim is to allow students to make their own discoveries, leaving a lasting and even life-changing impression. 

"You cannot teach anyone anything; you can only help them to find it for themselves." GALILEO GALILEI