Aidan O’Reilly during a recent rehearsal of his play “Falstaff,” which is a combination of four Shakespeare plays.
Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
Aidan O’Reilly may look like your average twenty-something, but this talented guy last year graduated from Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He also promotes his latest theatrical project with all the confidence of a seasoned thespian on a press junket. O’Reilly came to the bustling Sunflower Caffé in Sonoma to chat about “Falstaff,” which he wrote, directs and stars in. The play premieres June 12 at the Sonoma Community Center.
“I wrote ‘Falstaff’ as a combination of four Shakespeare plays: ‘Richard II,’ ‘Henry IV Part One,’ ‘Henry IV Part Two’ and ‘Henry V,’ and it is essentially an interplay between the generations,” explained O’Reilly, who plays Prince Hal. “The struggle Prince Hal encounters is between his stern father and Sir Falstaff, a corrupt man who really knows how to enjoy life.”
O’Reilly exudes intelligence, creativity and professionalism. His intense deep blue eyes are irresistibly engaging – which is all the more remarkable since he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina, at the age of six months, and has been legally blind ever since.
“The compensations he developed from this disability included a tremendous aural memory, a rich imaginative life and an intense creative drive,” said John O’Reilly, Aidan’s computer programmer father, who stars opposite his son in “Falstaff.” “Aidan can read print with the naked eye if it is about an inch high. To read printed text, he scans it rapidly with a hand-held magnifier. He grew up with smudged ink on the end of his nose.”
O’Reilly’s parents divorced when he was three. Father and son bonded over late-night screenings of film versions of Shakespeare’s plays and the seed was planted. At the age of eight, O’Reilly made his stage debut as a six-toed elf in an anti-drug fable written by a former San Quentin inmate. When in the ninth grade at the Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa, O’Reilly and friend Sacha Szwarc co-directed a version of “Cabaret” that was racy enough to be banned from the high school’s stage.
After high school graduation, O’Reilly applied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. The audition took place in a room in the United Nations building in New York overlooking the ocean. The tea-sipping Englishman was so impressed with O’Reilly’s acting ability that he invited the 18-year-old to continue the process in London. O’Reilly didn’t mention his visual impairment during that preliminary audition, but disclosed the information once he got to London.
“It was a brilliant experience and I had such a great time auditioning that it almost didn’t matter whether I got in, but when they called and said ‘We have a place for you in the company,’ I was amazed,” said O’Reilly. “It was a gorgeous three years, working with many wonderful teachers and appearing in so many enjoyable productions.”
Degree in hand, O’Reilly returned to Sonoma last August. He set about auditioning for theater companies, but took a break in November to direct, act in and produce a local production of “Macbeth.” He was asked to join the Marin Shakespeare Company, but when he got a call from the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia, O’Reilly decided to take his talent on the road.
“Later this month, I’ll start performing ‘The Comedy of Errors,’ ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’ in rep for eight months,” said O’Reilly. “I love the excitement of touring, but I also have great affection for community theater. Here at home, I get to work with actors with many different experiences and every experience has been rewarding.”
Performances are Thursday, June 12 and Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, June 14 at 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12 for the June 12 preview, $18 general admission ($15 for children and seniors) for all other performances and are available at Murphy’s Irish Pub, 464 First St. E., Sonoma and Readers’ Books, 130 E. Napa, Sonoma. The Sonoma Community Center is at 276 E. Napa St. in Sonoma.
