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OWEN
O'NEILL
Owen O'Neill: It Was Henry Fonda's Fault Written and Performed by
Owen O'Neill Beware of what you dream for - it may just come true...
It Was Henry Fonda's Fault is acclaimed comedian/writer/actor Owen
O'Neill's follow-up to his 1997 autobiographical, award-winning
play, Off My Face. It hilariously chronicles his obsessive and ill
fated attempt to take the show to Los Angeles in sad realisation
of a childhood dream stimulated by watching cowboy movies in his
local fleapit cinema and the naive swallowing of the tales of an
ex-Hollywood stuntman mentor.
But as his Hollywood dreams descend into la-la nightmare he blames
his abject failure on Henry Fonda and descends perilously close
to the same abyss as the play describes... O'Neill's performance,
theatrical but tinged with his experience as a stand-up, charms
the audience; his writing, which won him the LWT New Writing Award
'97 for Off My Face, combines laugh-out-loud humour with moments
of real poignancy.
Owen O'Neill is currently writing his second series of The Fitz
for BBC One. REVIEW EXCERPTS: "Incisive candour and hilarious self-deprecation
relayed with a genius that provokes tears-rolling-down-your-face
laughter" HHHHH (The Scotsman) "The show kicks into overdrive with
vivid humour, gusto, and compelling frankness" (The Herald) "Well-structured
storytelling and a sharp comic performance turn O'Neill's disastrous
story of trying to be a Hollywood star into a seriously heartwarming
experience. O'Neill is never less than an excellent, intelligent
writer and funny performer" (The Stage) "O'Neill's skill with language
and sense of comic timing make this an affectionate and funny portrayal
of the gap between dreams and reality... this is a breathless and
amusing ride through the life of a small town boy with big city
dreams." (Sunday Herald) "Absolutely charming... O'Neill possesses
a boyish cheek at odds with his actual age, and in a show that often
consists of the telling of the petty, though amusing, traumas of
an actor's life, he never loses the audience's sympathy" (Independent
on Sunday) BIOGRAPHY: Owen O'Neill
Owen O'Neill has established himself as a comedian, writer and actor.
He made his TV debut on Saturday Live in 1986 and has since performed
on numerous TV shows including Just For Laughs at the Montreal Comedy
Festival for Channel Four and his own stand-up special for the BBC.
As a standup comedian, Owen performs all over the world. In 1998
he did a sell out tour which took in Hong Kong, Melbourne, Auckland,
Toronto, Los Angeles, Dublin and Belfast. He is also a regular on
the London comedy circuit, including Comedy Store and Jongleurs.
As a writer his film, Arise And Go Now, a black comedy about priests,
pigeons, the IRA and WB Yeats, was broadcast in BBC2's Screenplay
series. Shooting to Stardom, broadcast on Channel Four, won the
Irish Short Film Awards at the 1994 Cork Film Festival. Patrick's
Day, a two-hander for the theatre, was written with Sean Hughes.
Owen and Sean performed this at the Edinburgh Festival, winning
the Edinburgh Critics' Award for Best Comedy. His one-man show It's
A Bit Like This was shortlisted for the 1994 Perrier Award at the
Edinburgh Festival, and in 1998 he won the LWT writing awards for
his one-man play Off My Face, which was adapted as a one-off drama
for the BBC. Owen made a welcome return to Edinburgh 1999 in Travellin'
Light, at the Assembly Rooms with Sean Hughes, and again in 2000
with his new play It Was Henry Fonda's Fault at the Traverse. His
sit-com The Fitz is currently being filmed for BBC TV. |
