Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER Published: 9 November 2007
Actor Dan Castellaneta in the Bicycle Man
Voice of Homer in King’s Head play
HIS voice can be heard from Tahiti to Timbuctoo, but for the next four weeks the true form of Homer Simpson can be found on the Islington stage.
Dan Castellaneta, the actor behind the exclamations, gurgles and outspoken idiocies of the world’s best-loved bright yellow man, made his London stage debut in new play The Bicycle Men at the King’s Head Theatre in Upper Street earlier this week.
But Mr Castellaneta, whose 30-year career in theatre outstrips even his 20 years playing Homer, says there will be no appearance from his donut-scoffing alter ego.
He said: “Anybody who’s coming to see Homer will be disappointed. I’m folically challenged like Homer, but that’s it. I’m the straight guy – the other actors get all the laughs.”
He added: “People do say I sound like Homer when I scream on stage, though.”
The play, written by members of the Chicago-based Second City company, is about an American traveller whose bicycle breaks down in a dark corner of rural France, leaving him stuck in a sinister village of eccentric inhabitants.