Niall McNeil likes to talk and Marcus Youssef is one of his favourite people to talk to. They live around the corner from each other and have known each other since Niall was 18 years old. Niall’s got an opinion about pretty much everything, and he’s funny, too. Niall and Marcus talk about his friends, writing, music, photographs and videos, acting, the grocery store Niall works at, his homemade CSI videos, romance, Beauty and the Beast – all the sh!t Niall likes. It’s a conversation that changes every time they have it. It also questions who in our culture we allow to speak, and who we expect to listen.
"The remarkable friendship between these two theatre makers is extraordinary," says Boca del Lupo Artistic Director, Sherry J. Yoon. "Together they create engaging work that inspires me." Niall is a professional actor and Marcus is a well-known Canadian playwright. Over the last 10 years they have devised a way to write together and, working with musician Veda Hille, written two big shows: Peter Panties (PuSh Festival) and King Arthur’s Night (Luminato, National Arts Centre, PuSh Festival). These groundbreaking productions put the vision of a neurodiverse artist at the centre of their creation, offering audiences a perspective on iconic stories unlike any they have ever seen.
Speaking about the show's origins, Neworld Theatre Artistic Director Marcus Youssef says, "When we premiered King Arthur’s Night at Luminato in Toronto, the NAC and PuSh, people had a huge reaction to the show’s opening. In it, Niall and I show slides of various images that inspired Niall’s thinking and writing of the play, from Richard Gere as Lancelot to pics of Harrison Hot Springs (which is the setting for Niall’s camelot) to shots of Niall in full costume in the woods in Banff while we did a residency there. We showed the slides and improvised conversations about what Niall thinks about them. Over and over again people told us, 'I’d watch that for a long time!' This got us thinking. What if we make a show in which Niall and I show pictures and videos of the many things Niall is super interested in, from the CSI parodies he makes with his actor friends to the Caravan Farm Theatre where he grew up and returns every summer to Super Valu, the grocery store on Commercial Drive where Niall has worked for more than a decade. And so that’s what we’re going to do."
Noting the Special Guests on the bill, Youssef adds, "Niall has a lot of friends. Like, a lot. Many are some of the city’s best known actors — and some are not. Every night we’ll invite one of Niall’s friends up to join us in talking about sh!t Niall likes as part of the show. In addition to being fun, it will also give audiences a sense of how playful and deep and combative and hilarious Niall’s relationships with his many friends are. It’s easy to look at people with Down syndrome and assume they’re always lonely, or don’t have fulfilling, complex relationships. For Niall that is DEFINITELY not the case."
April 11-14, 2018 at The Fishbowl (100 - 1398 Cartwright Street), Vancouver. Tickets from $15 at bocadellupo.com