QUICK LINKS: McNeil and Pamphilon /  Chekhov/Frayn /  Balmoral (Rik Mayall) /  Brendon Burns /  Stockwell /  End To End /  Failed States /  General

"An unusually high standard of innovation and comic writing...Glorious surrealist fancies." (The List)
"Cleverly constructed sketches...Outstanding comic abilities." (Broadway Baby) "Hugely enjoyable." (ThreeWeeks)

"Plots, the fantasies of a doctor...is vividly performed by Steve McNeil. Frayn, who translated the pieces, presides over the evening. It offers the perfect curtain-raiser to a stellar week by reminding us that, even in farcical trifles, Chekhov intimated his genius."
Michael Billington, The Guardian, 19/1/10

"Steve has comic timing and instincts that cannot be taught.
I say this with no hyperbole: I could not have won the award without him."
Brendon Burns, Winner of the IF.Comedy (formerly The 'Perrier' Award) Best Show, 2007

"A talented and accomplished performer, definitely one to watch..."
Tim Arthur, Comedy Editor, Time Out

"Steve took over one of the leading parts in my play Balmoral at about two days notice, when Rik Mayall had to withdraw...and gave a terrific performance which I found completely convincing. And I know that the director and everyone in the company found him a great pleasure to work with."
Michael Frayn, Multiple Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright

MCNEIL AND PAMPHILON: WHICH ONE ARE YOU? (2011)

- Three Weeks
- Fest
- Broadway Baby
- All The Festivals
- Edinburgh Festivals

The key to a great double-act, from Eric and Ernie to Vic and Bob, is chemistry. McNeil and Pamphilon have enough to start their own laboratory. Their excellent sketch show never falters. This duo are destined for great things.¹

I honestly haven't seen an audience enjoy themselves so thoroughly, or two comedians more in tune and in their element this festival. Go!²

Marvellous. Face-achingly funny. Electrifying gags executed with enviable panache.³

1. Fest
2. Edinburgh Festivals
3. Three Weeks

MCNEIL AND PAMPHILON: ADDICTED TO DANGER! (2010)

- The List
- Three Weeks
- Broadway Baby
- Fresh Air

Just when it looked like the sketch show might be eating itself to a slow, agonising death on this Fringe, along comes Steve McNeil, Sam Pamphilon and Rachel Stubbings to stick a hot poker into its dying carcass and kickstart the whole shebang.¹

It’s sketch comedy with a very dark edge...a mix of the kind of friendly, whimsical humour beloved of many an Oxbridge sketch troupe and the PC-skirting risk addiction associated with standups like Brendon Burns.²

The characters in each skit combine well in a succession of cleverly constructed sketches. All the way through, full use is made of the actors' outstanding comic abilities. It starts well and builds strongly so, despite the title, there's no danger in seeing this show - you're guaranteed an hour of teatime laughter.³

Put simply, this trio have a subtle comic chemistry flowing between them that many acts take several Fringes to achieve. The sketches themselves maintain an unusually high standard of innovation and comic writing. The opening segment of a governmental underling stumbling into a cabinet office meeting which is a front for assassination sets the tone starkly from the off while glorious surrealist fancies take flight as the hour draws in.⁴

They tackle a number of taboo topics - Jesus, terrorism, rape, race - but always in a disarmingly good-natured way. Their jokes about form (as in the catchy ditty 'We're Writing a Comedy Song') are clever whilst remaining accessible. It's a mark of confidence not to crave the constant validation of laugh after laugh, and it is in the longer-drawn out sketches, such as the game of 'Name that Film', that this hugely enjoyable duo reveal their comedic maturity.⁵

[It's] a show whose cleverness and genuine sense of risk should ensure this pair a later and higher-profile slot at next year’s festival.⁶

1,4. The List
2,6. Fest
3. Broadway Baby
5. Three Weeks

STEVE'S ROLE IN "A JUBILEE FOR ANTON CHEKHOV", HAMPSTEAD THEATRE

Hampstead Theatre is staging a week-long Jubilee for Anton Chekhov in order to celebrate the Russian playwright's 150th birthday and raise money to restore the White Dacha, the house in Yalta where he wrote some of his best-known plays. Hosted by Michael Pennington and leading Chekhov specialist Rosamund Bartlett...Special guests participating in the celebration include: Eileen Atkins, Simon Russell Beale, William Boyd, Richard Eyre, William Fiennes, Michael Frayn, David Hare, David Horovitch, Steve McNeil, Miriam Margolyes, Rosamund Pike, Lynne Truss and Penelope Wilton.
What's On Stage, 02/12/2009

The event on Monday evening includes a rare thing indeed: a Chekhov world premiere. Michael Frayn, playwright and Chekhov translator, will present...Plots, which [he] has adapted from a short story. This will be performed professionally for the first time by Steve McNeil as an inept physician.
The Times, 13/01/2010

Plots, the fantasies of a doctor...is vividly performed by Steve McNeil. Frayn, who translated the pieces, presides over the evening. It offers the perfect curtain-raiser to a stellar week by reminding us that, even in farcical trifles, Chekhov intimated his genius.
Michael Billington, The Guardian, 19/01/2010

PRAISE FOR HIS ROLE IN THE PETER HALL COMPANY'S PRODUCTION OF "BALMORAL"

- www.whatsonstage.com

"Steve took over one of the leading parts in my play Balmoral at about two days notice, when Rik Mayall had to withdraw, was instantly on top of it, and gave a terrific performance which I found completely convincing. And I know that the director and everyone in the company found him a great pleasure to work with." Michael Frayn

A first rate cast.¹ Rik Mayall was supposed to play Skinner, the warden of the house, and was ably replaced by Steve McNeil.² McNeil perfectly portrays a pernickety little civil servant. I'm sure we had a more balanced ensemble as a result. His panic is deliciously palpable.³

As the misunderstandings multiply, the cast show what ensemble acting can achieve, even without a star name in the cast. As Skinner, McNeil gives a very good performance as a man who wants to play by the rules, even if he's not quite clear what they are. It's all great fun.⁴

The cast is first class...Steve McNeil plays the somewhat mealy mouthed Skinner with just the right amount of nitpicking attention to detail...As reported in the Press, unfortunately Rik Mayall had to pull out of the production through illness and if you are a particular fan of his you might think of not coming along. Well, don't, because you will miss a very funny play and great evening.⁵

1. Bath Chronicle - 10/08/09
2. Conor F Ryan (occasional writer for Guardian/Independent)
3. Wiltshire Times - 10/08/09
4. www.whatsonstage.com - 25/08/09
5. What's On (Bristol) - August '09

PRAISE FOR HIS ROLE IN "BRENDON BURNS: SO I SUPPOSE THIS IS OFFENSIVE NOW?"
Winner of the IF.Comedy (formerly The 'Perrier' Award) Best Show, 2007
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Glasgow Comedy Festival, London West-End Run and Montreal "Just For Laughs" Festival

Steve McNeil's restrained, authentic and provocative performance is the key turn in a hilarious comedy which unveils itself to be rich, powerful and challenging theatre.¹ The finale to the show was absolutely brilliant: A comedy masterpiece,² a fascinating moment of moral tension,³ a psycho-comedic orgasm! ⁴

"No matter how many women hit him or cried for his welfare as he shed real tears, he kept on going. There's playing to the back of the room and then there's convincing someone sitting right next to you that what is happening is real and whether it was 200 or a thousand-seater venue, Steve did that night in and night out.

Steve has comic timing and instincts that cannot be taught. I say this with no hyperbole: I could not have won the award without him." ⁵

1. Paul Provenza, Director, Comedy-Documentary 'The Aristocrats' (Grand Jury Prize nominee, 2005 Sundance Film Festival)
2. The Stage, 13/08/2007
3. The Telegraph, 24/08/2007
4. The Scotsman, 06/08/2007
5. Brendon Burns, Winner of the IF.Comedy (formerly The 'Perrier' Award) Best Show, 2007

REVIEWS FOR THE ITV PRIMETIME DRAMA, "STOCKWELL"

"One of the best television programmes I have seen in a long time...It's a marvellous piece of work. I can't commend it highly enough."
Gillian Reynolds MBE, Sunday Brunch, BBC Radio 2

"Compelling...Very nicely underplayed."
Kirsty Lang and Mark Billingham, Front Row, BBC Radio 4

"This was public service broadcasting in the true sense of the term – and a very fine piece of work."
Damian Thompson, The Telegraph

PRAISE FOR HIS CO-WRITTEN SIT-COM, "END TO END"
Winner of the Sitcom Trials Grand Final 2009, Leicester Square Theatre

I think the best sitcom won tonight which was, of course...End to End, which was by far the most professional and had a good ratio of character to gags...brought you in, very good, wasn't too cluttered by jokes but it wasn't joke free as a lot of sitcoms tend to be these days. A very tight little piece.
Nev Fountain (Writer: Dead Ringers, Have I Got News For You)