Phil Hayes is a performance-maker, theatre director, actor and musician. He has also worked in kitchens, restaurants, pubs, factories, on the radio, on tv and on building sites. He was born on the south coast of England and studied Creative Arts in Newcastle upon Tyne many many years ago.
Based in Zurich since 1998, Phil has spent most of this time creating performance and theatre work, mainly under the label First Cut Productions. In Phil’s work, the collaborative process is generally the basis for generating content and form together with a rolling series of new and regular collaborative partners. His work has regularly toured internationally.
Phil has also made performance-based works in other contexts, as well as working as a freelance performer, director, advisor or musician in collaborations with a wide variety of other artists and groups. He has been a regular collaborator with British performance group Forced Entertainment and with choreographer and performance-maker Simone Aughterlony.
Phil has also written, made and released songs and music with (amongst others); Guz, Knarf Rellöm Jerry J. Nixon, The Songbirds, Monomerz, and Hipflasks. 2015 -19, Phil was active as Phil Hayes & The Trees together with Sarah Palin and Martin Prader, releasing two albums on the DALA Produkte label and an EP on Ikarus Records. Phil is currently writing and releasing music as part of his Assignments project, whereby song titles and and first lines are suggested by others. In 2013 Phil was awarded a Werkstipendium prize by the city of Zurich for his work to date. In 2020, Phil Hayes - First Cut Productions were awarded a "kulturelle Auszeichnung“ award from the City of Zurich, for the UNDER THE INFLUENCE I-III series of performances.
