Billy Liar

By some, Billy Liar is lumped in with the angry young men of the late-1950s; whist others see him as an idle daydreamer.  At 19 years old, he is stuck at his parents’ home in Bradford, with a dead-end job and two dead-end fiancées. Rather than shouting and planning his ‘escape’ Billy retreats into his imagination.  He larks about, bemusing his grandmother, irritating his parents almost to breaking point, and spouts constant lies – almost daring himself to get out of another fine pickle.

I thought the set was good, the front door and the stairs were excellent – although I would have preferred the ‘garden seat scene’ to be played somewhat off centre, maybe right down stage right? I found it just a little distracting being placed centre stage.

Generally the costumes were good, however I would have like to see Liz a much more stereotypical 60s beatnik, so that there was a real contrast between the three girls.

It was a delight to see the cast appeared to be ‘the right age’ for their characters - many congratulations. It is always a pleasure to see younger people in straight plays and this was no exception.  This play really gives an excellent opportunity for the very experienced and excellent actors this Society has to work alongside the up-and-coming actors of the future, and this challenge was met wonderfully and the whole cast appeared to work really well together. Characters were brought out well and were generally believable.  The irritation and frustration of Alice and Geoffrey, the long-suffering parents was tangible! The death of Florence, the Grandmother was handled extremely well and really gave pause for thought.  Diction from everyone was good, I heard every word.  

It is quite a funny play but somehow the humour did not always seem to come out, and I am at somewhat at as loss as to why. The ‘normal’ reason for this would be lack of pace – which was certainly not the case in this production – which set and maintained an excellent pace throughout – with obviously secure lines. I can only conclude that on the night we attended there was a listening audience and not a laugh out loud one or just maybe everyone was looking beneath the comedy, to see the tragic figure that Billy really is?

This society is always well supported – and this was no exception.  From the comment around me I feel sure that the audience enjoyed their trip back in time to the 60’s with all its prejudices.  Very many thanks for a most entertaining and enjoyable evening of theatre. 

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