20 November 2016
Newsdesk
Dillie Keane is once again taking a break from her Fascinating Aida gal pals, to bring audiences around the country her solo show, written by her and Adèle Anderson, which she debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015. Dillie will tour the UK from 10 February to 30 April 2017, accompanied on the piano by Michael Roulston: dates and booking info here: http://www.dilliekeane.com/
With brand new tunes, grand old favourites, gorgeous songs of love and hilarious songs of utter wickedness, Dillie will break your heart, mend it again and have it sent to the cleaners for pressing.
And she'll give you her recipe for chutney while she’s at it.
As founding member of Fascinating Aida, Dillie has amassed over 17 million hits on Youtube for their charming and now infamous takes on a variety of topics from Cheap Flights to OFSTED to Dillie’s notorious ode to dogging, which itself has reached 2 million hits so far.
Dillie says “Honestly, you’d think at my age I’d be settling down to knit cardies for my grandchildren and planting out my dahlias. Well, I haven’t got any grandchildren and my dahlias only need occasional attention. And I’m still getting through the 2015 chutney glut, so no more is required for the time being. So what else should I do other than pack my suitcase and set off around the country with my show? Britain in spring and the open road? There is no greater pleasure.
Since I put the show together as a little diversion to while away what was meant to be a short break from Fascinating Aida, the show has grown and changed - rather like a fine wine maturing in an oak barrel. Or perhaps like a cheese, ripening and stinking the house out. My great friend Michael Fitzgerald directed it for the Pheasantry last year, and then another very old pal, Simon Green, lent his directorial eye to the show before I took it to New York, to the very theatre he’s played many times. Michael put it together and shaped it, rather like Yotam Ottolenghi assembling the ingredients for an inspirational salad, and then Simon pruned it and tied it to a trellis, rather like a lovely espalier peach tree in a well-ordered potager. I then perform it for the audience like an old gardener who has contracted viral pneumonia but still goes out with her secateurs in the rain.
I’m travelling once again with Michael Roulston who will be lending his brilliant piano playing to my songs. We had a lovely time together on the last tour, and survived a month in New York together, which has given us time to be good friends as well as good musical colleagues. Michael is much in demand on the cabaret circuit in London so I have to ply him with many gins after the show in case he is tempted elsewhere. And since he hates drinking by himself, I have to join him, it’s terrible what I suffer for my art.”
TOUR DATES
Friday 10 – Saturday 11 February – Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
Monday 6 – Tuesday 7 March – Chipping Norton Theatre
Wednesday 8 March – The Radlett Centre
Thursday 9 March – Civic Theatre, Chelmsford
Friday 10 March – Cheltenham Town Hall
Friday 17 March – Warwick Art Centre, Coventry
Saturday 18 March – Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff
Sunday 19 March – Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton
Friday 24 March – Theatre Royal, Winchester
Saturday 25 March – Redgrave Theatre, Bristol
Sunday 26 March – Exeter Northcott
Friday 31 March – Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells
Saturday 1 April – Theatre Royal Brighton
Sunday 2 April – Greenwich Theatre
Tuesday 4 April – Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Wednesday 5 – Thursday 6 April – Norwich Playhouse
Friday 7 April – Lighthouse, Kettering
Saturday 8 April – Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton
Wednesday 12 April – Lighthouse, Poole
Thursday 13 April – Hall for Cornwall, Truro
Tuesday 18 – Wednesday 19 April – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Music Room
Thursday 20 April – The Civic, Barnsley
Friday 21 April – Leeds, City Varieties
Saturday 22 April – Gala Theatre, Durham
Sunday 23 April – Playhouse Theatre, Alnwick
Monday 24 April – The Lowry, Salford
Thursday 27 April – The Stables, Milton Keynes
Friday 28 April – Theatre Royal Margate
Saturday 29 April – Churchill Theatre Bromley
Sunday 30 April – Richmond Theatre
