PORTALS TO FREEDOM
Solo Performance
By
Phillip Hinton (Australia):
Portals to Freedom, a ‘play for one actor’, adapted by Phillip Hinton from
the book of the same name, is the story of Howard Colby Ives who, in 1911
was a minister in a Unitarian Church in New York. Ives was one of a number
of leaders of thought and society figures who were privileged to meet ‘Abdu’lBahá, during His visit to America in 1911/12. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, known to his
followers as “The Beloved Master” was the eldest son of Bahá’u’lláh, the
prophet founder of the Bahá’í Faith - now widely regarded as one of the
world’s major religions.
Colby Ives’s encounters with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá profoundly altered the course of
his life. He left his ministry in the church to become a devoted Bahá’í, and in
1937, published Portals to Freedom, a detailed memoir of his days in the
presence of ‘The Master’. His odyssey of spiritual search and discovery are
examined in this performance by Phillip Hinton.
Portals to Freedom has been performed extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand as well as
Britain, China, South Africa, Malaysia, Canada and on three separate tours to the United States.
Phillip Hinton was born in the UK and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, to where his family had
emigrated in 1947. He began his stage career in South Africa, and then in 1963 he returned to the UK
where he worked in repertory and in musical comedy before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in
1966. His three years in the RSC included tours to the USSR and Finland with Paul Scofield's 'Macbeth'
and to France with ‘All’s Well that Ends Well'. There followed two seasons at the Chichester Festival
Theatre under Sir John Clements and in London's West End he was in the British cast of the Stephen
Sondheim musical, 'Company'. Phillip's last appearance in London was in Michael Rudman's acclaimed
production of Jack Gelber's, 'The Connection'.
In the UK Phillip also worked extensively in TV drama - for the BBC in several popular series - 'Softly,
Softly', 'Z Cars', 'The Regiment', 'Colditz', and 'John Halifax, Gentleman'. He played the lead role
opposite Rachel Roberts in ‘Party Piece’, and was featured in the popular series, 'The Brontes of
Haworth', and in the action series, 'The Protectors', which starred Robert Vaughan.
In 1974 Phillip settled in Australia with his family. He has worked in theatre in Sydney at Marian Street and
at the Old Tote Theatre and for the Melbourne Theatre Company as ‘Iago’ in 'Othello' (1976). At the
1981 Perth Festival his performance as ‘Steve Daniels’ in 'A Lesson from Aloes’ by the award winning
South African writer Athol Fugard, won critical acclaim in the nation's press. In 2002 he again appeared in
another Fugard play, ‘The Road to Mecca’ for the Queensland Theatre Company and in 2007/8 as ‘Buks’
and ‘Author’ in ‘Valley Song’ for Merrigong Theatre, Wollongong. 2008 also marked Phillip’s return to
music theatre as ‘Mr. Lawrence’ in ‘Little Women’ for Kookaburra Theatre Company, followed, a year
later, by Gavin Lockley’s ‘Ballads of the Bush’ at Angel Place Recital Hall.
In Australia he has made countless appearances in popular TV series - 'Young Doctors', 'Bellamy',
'Skyways', 'A Country Practice', and for the ABC in 'Home Sweet Home', 'Learned Friends',
'Peach’s Explorers', and 'Flight into Hell'. He was featured in 'Great Expectations, the Australian
Story', as ‘Admiral Lacoste’ in 'The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy', as ‘Captain’ of the Achille Lauro in
'The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro’, (an NBC movie of the week) He also spent two months as ‘Alan
Stone’, the errant Deputy Head of Summer Bay High in 'Home and Away'. In 1992 he was seen in a
guest lead role as a corrupt doctor in ‘GP’. Phillip has had roles in ‘The Boys from the Bush, ‘Dearest
Enemy', the children's TV series, ‘Clowning Around’ and ‘Return of the Artful Dodger’ and in ‘Police
Rescue’, ‘Big Sky’, and ‘Blue Murder’. His film credits include 'Caddie', 'Manganinnie', and
'Captives of Care'.
For US television Phillip featured in ‘movies of the week’ - ‘The Flood’, ‘Irresistible Force’, ‘Heart of
Fire, ‘The Three Stooges’, ‘Airtight’, ‘Dynasty, The Making of a Guilty Pleasure’, ‘Desperate
Journey’, and in the TV series, ‘Time Trax’, 'Mission Impossible', ‘Flipper’ and ‘Thornbirds - the
Missing Years’.
Phillip has been greatly in demand as one of Sydney's busiest voice artists, featuring in countless radio
dramas and TV documentaries and in radio and television commercials.