"[1] At the age of 18, he played his first professional role as The Boy in Waiting For Godot, directed by Ronald Barker for Auckland's CAS Theatre in 1958.
The local ladies' guilds clothed themselves in the role of the Lord Chamberlain, and petitions and complaints flooded Government House, Wellington.
This gentleman, much to our delight, passed it as being amusing and thought-provoking, whilst the papers hit at it as being shocking and loathsome...."[1] However the New Zealand Herald called it "a brilliant and devastating piece of theatre.
[3] From there he went to England in 1962, where he worked as an actor and director until 1973, appearing mainly in weekly and fortnightly Repertory, but also participating in national tours, such as a 1968 production of Jane Austen's Emma, adapted for the stage by Robert Owen, in which he played Mr Elton.
[3][7][8] In late 1972, he returned to New Zealand, where he directed the first production of The Two Tigers, and then spent a year as resident writer and actor at Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North.
[28] Between 2010 and 2021, McNeill had an annual gig re-telling ghost stories at Dunedin's Larnach Castle on the longest night of the year (21 June).