Raymond Keane (Irish actor)
Raymond Keane is an Irish actor, clown, puppeteer and theatre writer and producer, known for founding the Barabbas Theatre Company in Temple Bar, Dublin.[1][2][3]
Keane was the voice of the puppet Pajo, from RTÉ One's Pajo's Junkbox, a children's TV show, also starring Rosemary Henderson.[1] Keane, as Pajo, topped the Irish charts with "Let's Wash our Socks for Christmas" novelty record,[4][5] returning to the charts in December 2014, as part of The Zog Chorus, a group of puppets from RTÉ Young People's Programming from the 80's and 90's, Zig and Zag, Bosco, and Dustin the Turkey, recording a charity single in aid of Childline.[6] In 1999 Keane portrayed a dying character on soap opera Fair City,[7] In 2014, Keane performed a series of Samuel Beckett plays in 14 Henrietta Street,[8] having performed site-specific performances of the playwright's work across Dublin city in 2009.[9]
In 2007, he produced Circus, inspired by Fellini's La Strada, in the Project Arts Centre with Barabbas.[10]
In 2021 Keane was nominated along with Sarah Jane Scaife as Irish Theatre Awards Best Director for The Long Christmas Dinner, in the Abbey Theatre.[11]
In 2024, Keane directed a cast of actors with disabilities in Christian O'Reilly's No Magic Pill for Magic Pill.[12] In 2025, he played a masked character in Brú Theatre's production of Not a Word at The Barbican in London as part of MimeLondon.[13]
Keane is an adjunct professor at Trinity College Dublin's School for the Creative Arts,[14] and a clown specialist at the Gaiety School of Acting.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Barter, Pavel (12 February 2024). "How Raymond Keane went from hairdressing for U2 to being Ireland's preeminent clown" – via TheTimes.co.uk.
- ^ "Raymond Keane – actor". BealFestival.com. Béal Festival. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ "Raymond Keane". IrishPlayography.com. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ "The Junkbox Band – Let's Wash Our Socks For Christmas / The Sock Dance (1986, Vinyl)". Discogs.com. 1986.
- ^ "Pajo: A guide for those who have never heard of him". DailyEdge.ie. 6 December 2014.
- ^ "Christmas Charity - IRMA - News". IRMA.ie. 12 December 2014.
- ^ "Fury as Simon leaves house to gay friend who helped him die; Plot Twist Set To Shock Fair City Viewers". Irish Daily Mirror. Retrieved 8 April 2025 – via Thefreelibrary.com.
- ^ Little, James (October 2020). "Reframing the politics of performance at 14 Henrietta Street: ANU's Living the Lockout and Company SJ's Fizzles". Text and Performance Quarterly. 40 (4): 343–363. doi:10.1080/10462937.2020.1852303. EBSCOhost 10462937.
- ^ McMullan, Anna (2017). "Staging Ireland's Dispossessed: Sarah Jane Scaife's Beckett in the City Project". Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui. 29 (2). Brill.com: 361–374. doi:10.1163/18757405-02902012. ISSN 1875-7405. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ Jackson, Joe. "Tears of a Clown". Hotpress.com. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ "Nominees for the Irish Times Theatre Awards!". Theatre and Dance NI. 3 May 2022.
- ^ "How a disability activist inspired an award-winning Irish play". RTÉ.ie. 13 November 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ Winship, Lyndsey (22 January 2025). "Not a Word review – superbly strange tale makes the mundane mesmerising". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ "Taking charge of your performance career 2019 | Music Network". MusicNetwork.ie. 16 October 2019.
- ^ "Staff". GaietySchool.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2025. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
External links
[edit]- Raymond Keane on Twitter
- Barabbas Theatre Company website
