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Last Show: Tuesday 30 ^th November 2021

The Pheasantry (Chelsea)

We are sad (and upset) that one of our all-time favourite artists, the irreplaceable Dillie Keane, is ill and has to cancel her performances this week. She has promised that (as soon as she can again talk and sing) she will come back to us and we'll let you know as soon as we have new dates.

Back at the Pheasantry, Dillie is back where she belongs - on a cabaret stage, accompanied by the marvellous Michael Roulston. Her take on life and love is cheerfully sour, gently savage and peculiarly mordant - but the beautiful music softens the effect. She freely admits she has a voice like a dying crow being crushed beneath an angry sheep, but that’s never stopped her. In fact, she will be singing some perfectly wonderful songs by other songwriters which she recently discovered in New York. As well as a raft of her own songs too, of course. A delightful evening.

Dillie Keane is best known as one third of the satirical trio, Fascinating Aïda, which started in1983 and hijacked her acting career. Her solo cabaret show, SINGLE AGAIN, was nominated for the Perrier Award in 1989, and her follow up show, CITIZEN KEANE, toured extensively. She was delighted to receive the Möers Comedy Award for her last comedy show, BACK WITH YOU, especially as they gave her the award before she’d even arrived in the charming German town of Möers. However, she assumed this was simply Teutonic efficiency, rather than a fix. She received a large sugar replica of the town centre statue which took pride of place on a window sill. Sadly, it quickly acquired a plague of ants and had to be thrown out.

Dillie has also done a fair bit of legitimate theatre; she was nominated for Best Actress in the Manchester Evening News for playing Maggie in DANCING AT LUGHNASA, and she was the obvious choice (not) to replace Nyree Dawn Porter when the poor lady suddenly karked it during rehearsals for a tour of CHARLEY’S AUNT. In 2018, she appeared at the Watermill as Madame Armfeld in Paul Foster’s production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, and later this year she will be giving her Mother Superior in a London production of the hit musical, NUNSENSE.

A Portsmouth girl born and bred, she is Patron of the Kings Theatre, Southsea, and takes a keen interest in the theatre’s well-being and continued success. She was proud to accept an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Portsmouth in recognition of her career and her continuing links with the city.

Her recent return to a solo career has something of an accidental nature about it. Her long-term colleague and song-writing collaborator, Adèle Anderson, decided she wanted a couple of months off to go on holiday to North Korea. (Only Adèle…!!!) Dillie hated to be idle, so she decided to do a little solo show in the meantime. Unfortunately, Adèle never even got as far as Heathrow Airport, because she was diagnosed with cancer. Dillie found herself filling in the cancellations with her solo show, and has thoroughly enjoyed her return to solo performing, and recorded a DVD of the show (HELLO DILLIE!) at the Soho Theatre.

Dillie Keane - Love and other bad ideas

The Pheasantry (Chelsea)

We are sad (and upset) that one of our all-time favourite artists, the irreplaceable Dillie Keane, is ill and has to cancel her performances this week. She has promised that (as soon as she can again talk and sing) she will come back to us and we'll let you know as soon as we have new dates.

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