Billy Liar

Billy Liar set in the late fifties, tells the story of William Fisher, a Northern working-class 19-year-old still living with his parents. He is feckless, self-centred, infantile and infuriating and bored by his job at the local undertaker's. So Billy spends most of his time indulging in fantasies and dreams of life in London as a comedy writer.  Lazy and feckless the play really brings home the timeless aspect of Billy’s teenage antics – every parent’s nightmare!

Very many congratulations to the set designers and dressers for creating an immediate step back to the era with the open set. The time line was maintained perfectly with everything on stage looking just the part. Similarly the costumes were spot-on – we are just not used to seeing young men in suits these days but then it really was the ‘done thing’.

There were some very good characterisations and some believable relationships, but I did get the feeling that the lines were not always quite so secure which did unfortunately result in a lack of pace at times. However I imagine that the lines must have been difficult to learn as quite often you were creating less of a conversation than a series of one line comments.  I must congratulate you all on your diction which was excellent throughout – so we were able to hear and appreciate every word.

Overall it was a most enjoyable evening, providing lots of subtle humour throughout and plenty to get the mind and the debates going, even if the issues are a now half a century old -  the timeless problems of teenagers behaving – well like teenagers – is a constant.

Another production well worth visiting and my sincere congratulations to everyone connected with this most entertaining production.

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