Disability Arts & New Play Development: Cowboy Tempest (Vancouver, CAN)
This August and November in Vancouver, I had the pleasure of Niall, his co-writers Lucy McNulty & Jimmy King, composer Anton Lipovetsky and Producer Allyson McGrane in the workshop development of Niall McNeil’s riff on The Tempest.
Cowboy Tempest was a fantastic opportunity to explore Niall’s unique perspective on Shakespeare full of cowboys and fairies, bar fights and Line dancing in an active physical creation of text and new music.
About Niall McNeil
Niall McNeil has been involved with theatre from an early age through his long association with the Caravan Farm Theatre. As a youngster he performed in Romeo and Juliet, Bull by the Horns, and Strange Medicine.
In 2011 Leaky Heaven and Neworld Theatre co-produced Peter Panties, a play written by McNeil and Marcus Youssef which was performed in the Vancouver Push Festival. Peter Panties won a Jesse Richardson Critics Choice Award for Innovation in theatre. His latest work, King Arthur’s Night, also written with Marcus Youssef, received the Outstanding Ensemble Jessie this year. His work is published by talon book.
McNeil loves researching new ideas, writing music and writing plays. Niall also enjoys teaching acting with his friends at the Down Syndrome Research Foundation.
