Dillie Keane
Encyclopedia
Louise M. "Dillie" Keane (born 23 May 1952) is an Olivier Award-nominated actress, singer and comedienne. She is perhaps best known as one third of the comedy
cabaret
trio Fascinating Aida
since its 1983 inception, but she has also had a prominent solo career.
in 1990 for her one woman theatre show Single Again (Sean Hughes
would go on to win the award), returning the following year with Citizen Keane. Between 1999 and 2001 she toured a one woman show, Back With You, taking in the UK and Germany, and winning the Best Comedy Award at the Moers Comedy Festival in 2001.
In 2002, Keane wrote the songs for Sandi Toksvig
's musical comedy Big Night Out At The Little Palace Theatre (starring in the show itself at the Palace Theatre), Watford
with Toksvig and Bonnie Langford
. Other works include the plays A Slice of Life (1981) and Boat People (1983). She has written songs for two pantos with Adele Anderson.
Keane continued her acting career, including touring versions of Dancing at Lughnasa
and Charley's Aunt
, Juno and the Paycock
at the Leicester Haymarket; The Plough and the Stars at the West Yorkshire Playhouse
in Leeds
; Accommodating Eva at the King's Head Theatre
in Islington
and Present Laughter
at Birmingham Repertory Theatre
. She was included in the premiere production of The Vagina Monologues
in Dublin in 2002. She appeared with Kit and The Widow
in Tomfoolery during 2005 and in the premiere one night only staging of a new musical version of Little Women
at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Keane has recently been (2006) appearing alongside Jenny Eclair and Linda Robson
, in Grumpy Old Women Live
and she appeared as The Duchess in Me and My Girl
(2006) on a new national tour. She is currently performing the role of Dolly in Frank and Dolly a new play by Lizzie Hopley
at the Edinburgh Festival 2007, for which she has been nominated for The Stage Best Actress Award, before getting back on tour with Grumpy Old Women Live
. She then toured round Ireland performing the role of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest
, before returning to England, and beginning to write new songs for the 25th anniversary of Fascinating Aida, which performed for a few weeks at the Jermyn Street Theatre
. On 29 June 2008, she appeared in (as well as produced with Barb Jungr
) The Lovely Russell Concert, which celebrated the life of her friend and colleague Russell Churney
. As of 2009, she is touring England with Fascinating Aida
, and they have just completed a new CD.
, Dillie has appeared with Richard Griffiths
and Samantha Janus
in Pie in the Sky, and with Phil Cool
on a number of his series as well as The Truth About Women
.
4th Column, Booked!
and Call Me When You're in Something (which won the Prix Monte Carlo).
, and the former Miriam Slattery (from Tralee, County Kerry). Dillie Keane was raised in Portsmouth
as a Roman Catholic, and described her mother as something of a "dragon".
She currently lives in Oxfordshire
with her partner. She travels for her work, and particularly enjoys working in Ireland
, the homeland of her parents.
She drives a Ford Transit
: "I'm colossally uninterested in cars... but vans are different. They're incredible fun to drive. You are practically always the bigger dog. People always back up in small country lanes to let you pass. And even lorry drivers are much nicer; they'll flash you to let you in."
(Sacred Heart) as a teenager, Keane studied music at Trinity College, Dublin
, but left the four-year course after three years. She went on to study acting for three years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
. She was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Portsmouth
in recognition of her career and her continuing links with the city.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
trio Fascinating Aida
Fascinating Aida
Fascinating Aïda is a British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act, which has retired twice, most recently in 2004. After the death in 2007 of the group's pianist and musical director, Russell Churney, all plans for a new show were shelved. Some of their most famous songs include...
since its 1983 inception, but she has also had a prominent solo career.
Theatre and Fascinating Aida
Keane was nominated for a Perrier Award at the Edinburgh FestivalEdinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 1990 for her one woman theatre show Single Again (Sean Hughes
Sean Hughes (comedian)
Sean Hughes is a British-Irish stand-up comedian, writer and actor.-Career:Hughes was born in London, but spent most of his youth in Firhouse, Dublin...
would go on to win the award), returning the following year with Citizen Keane. Between 1999 and 2001 she toured a one woman show, Back With You, taking in the UK and Germany, and winning the Best Comedy Award at the Moers Comedy Festival in 2001.
In 2002, Keane wrote the songs for Sandi Toksvig
Sandi Toksvig
Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...
's musical comedy Big Night Out At The Little Palace Theatre (starring in the show itself at the Palace Theatre), Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
with Toksvig and Bonnie Langford
Bonnie Langford
Bonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford is an English actress, dancer and entertainer. She came to prominence as a child star in the early 1970s then she subsequently became a companion of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy's Doctor Who and has appeared on stage in various musicals such as Peter Pan:...
. Other works include the plays A Slice of Life (1981) and Boat People (1983). She has written songs for two pantos with Adele Anderson.
Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator...
and Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
, Juno and the Paycock
Juno and the Paycock
Juno and the Paycock is a play by Sean O'Casey, and one of the most highly regarded and oft-performed plays in Ireland. It was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924...
at the Leicester Haymarket; The Plough and the Stars at the West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
; Accommodating Eva at the King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an Off-West End venue in London. It was the first pub theatre in the UK. Adam Spreadbury-Maher became Artistic Director in March 2010 .-Background:...
in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
and Present Laughter
Present Laughter
Present Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 and first staged in 1942 on tour, alternating with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed...
at Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
. She was included in the premiere production of The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
in Dublin in 2002. She appeared with Kit and The Widow
Kit and The Widow
Kit and The Widow are a double act, performing humorous songs in the vein of Tom Lehrer or Flanders and Swann; they also cite Anna Russell as an influence. They are Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Richard Sisson . They have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and in West End theatres, and accept private...
in Tomfoolery during 2005 and in the premiere one night only staging of a new musical version of Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Linda Robson
Linda Patricia Mary Robson is an English actress. She played Tracey in the BBC comedy, Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998.-Personal life and education:...
, in Grumpy Old Women Live
Grumpy Old Women Live
Grumpy Old Women Live is a stage show based on the series BBC television series Grumpy Old Women.-Inception:The idea of a live show of Grumpy Old Women, which had already been successful on the television, came about in Spring 2005 to producer Judith Holder and Grumpy contributor Jenny Eclair, and...
and she appeared as The Duchess in Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth....
(2006) on a new national tour. She is currently performing the role of Dolly in Frank and Dolly a new play by Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley is a British actor and writer.She appears in several audio plays based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Her first appearance was as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Gemma Griffin in Terror Firma. She also portrayed the sister of Davros in the I, Davros...
at the Edinburgh Festival 2007, for which she has been nominated for The Stage Best Actress Award, before getting back on tour with Grumpy Old Women Live
Grumpy Old Women Live
Grumpy Old Women Live is a stage show based on the series BBC television series Grumpy Old Women.-Inception:The idea of a live show of Grumpy Old Women, which had already been successful on the television, came about in Spring 2005 to producer Judith Holder and Grumpy contributor Jenny Eclair, and...
. She then toured round Ireland performing the role of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, before returning to England, and beginning to write new songs for the 25th anniversary of Fascinating Aida, which performed for a few weeks at the Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated in Jermyn Street, London.Formerly a restaurant, under the leadership of Howard Jameson, it was transformed into a 70-seat studio theatre right in the heart of London's West End...
. On 29 June 2008, she appeared in (as well as produced with Barb Jungr
Barb Jungr
Barb Jungr is an English singer-songwriter, composer and writer, of Czech and German parentage. She is perhaps best known as a chansonnière, or singer of chansons—in the sense of classic, lyric-driven French songs; in the broader sense of European songs in the cabaret style; and in the even...
) The Lovely Russell Concert, which celebrated the life of her friend and colleague Russell Churney
Russell Churney
Russell Churney was an English composer, pianist, arranger and musical director. He was also a member of the legendary comedy/cabaret group, Fascinating Aïda...
. As of 2009, she is touring England with Fascinating Aida
Fascinating Aida
Fascinating Aïda is a British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act, which has retired twice, most recently in 2004. After the death in 2007 of the group's pianist and musical director, Russell Churney, all plans for a new show were shelved. Some of their most famous songs include...
, and they have just completed a new CD.
Television
As well as a television version of Fascinating AidaFascinating Aida
Fascinating Aïda is a British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act, which has retired twice, most recently in 2004. After the death in 2007 of the group's pianist and musical director, Russell Churney, all plans for a new show were shelved. Some of their most famous songs include...
, Dillie has appeared with Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
and Samantha Janus
Samantha Janus
Samantha Zoe Womack is an English actress, singer and director, both on television and stage. In recent years she has been best known for playing the role of Ronnie Branning in EastEnders, but made her name in the early 1990s as Mandy Wilkins in Game On, and also represented the United Kingdom in...
in Pie in the Sky, and with Phil Cool
Phil Cool
Phil Cool is an English comedian, impressionist and musician.-Early life:Cool discovered that he had the ability to pull faces when he was at school...
on a number of his series as well as The Truth About Women
The Truth About Women
The Truth About Women is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Laurence Harvey, Julie Harris, Mai Zetterling and Diane Cilento...
.
Radio
Keane has written and presented on radio for shows such as Stop the WeekStop The Week
Stop the Week was a long running BBC Radio 4 discussion programme chaired by Robert Robinson which ran from 1974–1992-Origins:The BBC Radio's Current Affairs Department decided that it wanted a programme that would act as a bookend to Monday morning's Start the Week with Richard Baker, which had...
4th Column, Booked!
Booked!
Booked! was a radio programme that originally aired from October 1995 to April 2000. There were thirty 35-minute episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It starred Ian McMillan, Mark Thomas, David Stafford, Stuart Maconie, Linda Smith, Dillie Keane, Miles Kington, and Roger McGough.-...
and Call Me When You're in Something (which won the Prix Monte Carlo).
Writing
Keane was a columnist for the Mail on Sunday (1993-95), and published two books connected with 'Aida': The Joy of Sequins - The Fascinating Aïda Songbook (1995) and Fascinating Who? (1985).Personal life
Keane was born to Frank Keane, a doctor from County MayoCounty Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
, and the former Miriam Slattery (from Tralee, County Kerry). Dillie Keane was raised in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
as a Roman Catholic, and described her mother as something of a "dragon".
She currently lives in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
with her partner. She travels for her work, and particularly enjoys working in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the homeland of her parents.
She drives a Ford Transit
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a range of panel vans, minibuses, and pickup trucks, produced by the Ford Motor Company in Europe.The Transit has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle in Europe for 40 years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic term...
: "I'm colossally uninterested in cars... but vans are different. They're incredible fun to drive. You are practically always the bigger dog. People always back up in small country lanes to let you pass. And even lorry drivers are much nicer; they'll flash you to let you in."
Education
Expelled from the Woldingham SchoolWoldingham School
Woldingham School is an all-girls, independent, Roman Catholic, boarding and day school in Woldingham, Surrey, England.-History:The school was founded as the Convent of the Sacred Heart in 1842 in Berrymead, London by the Society of the Sacred Heart...
(Sacred Heart) as a teenager, Keane studied music at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, but left the four-year course after three years. She went on to study acting for three years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...
. She was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Portsmouth
University of Portsmouth
The University of Portsmouth is a university in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The University was ranked 60th out of 122 in The Sunday Times University Guide...
in recognition of her career and her continuing links with the city.