Billy Liar (28/09/10, WYP)

It's been a while since my last update, but then my new job hasn't afforded me the luxury of spare time to write entries, or the energy of an evening to do so either. Added to that is the fact I've not finish many movies, TV series, books, etc in the last couple of weeks. On TV there are new seasons of things starting, so it'll be a while before I comment on Merlin, Ugly Betty or True Blood.

The last theatre trip we made was to WYP once more, to see Billy Liar, a play by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall that is celebrating it's golden anniversary. Going in I knew nothing about the play, and yet again the WYP has come up trumps with a wonderfully acted (and cast), funny, and ultimately enjoyable piece of theatre. 

Billy Fisher is a fantasist (read: liar) who lives with his parents and grandmother, and the play takes place over a period of about 24 hours, in the Fisher's front room. The set was full of great period detail, and even had a staircase, a kitchen, windows... It always astounds me the level of detail that goes into a stage set, although anything shoddy would be shown up in such a small, intimate theatre as it was showing on, plus we were only 2 rows back. There's not a great deal of plot to the piece, mostly it's about the interactions between characters - from what I remember Billy is work-shy and has a couple of girls on the go at once, and when his lies begin unravelling (and his girls meet) his parents wash their hands of him, his grandma dies (though not as a result of Billy's actions) and he decides to leave for London. 

There is a lot of genuine, 'gritty' northern language in the dialogue, particularly from Billy's grumpy father, played by Garry Cooper, an actor I recognise from At Home With the Braithwaites, and my favourite character/actor in the play. When I say the language is gritty, I don't mean swearing, there's a lot of northern slang and stuff I could I identify with. In fact although I didn't identify with Billy's lies (although Paul-Ryan Carberry was excellent in the role, I'm not a big fan of the character - I just wanted him to grow up and stop acting like a tit!) I did identify with his paternal relationship - mine and my Dad's was a little fraut growing up - he'd always be on at me to get up and not lie about in bed, and to get dressed rather than lounge about in my pyjamas... 

The only other face I recognised in the cast was Gillian Bevan, playing Billy's mum, who was the headteacher in Channel 4's Teachers. One reason I like to have a programme before starting to watch a play is so that I can enjoy it without thinking 'where do I know him/her from?!' Billy Liar reminded me somewhat of Death of a Salesman, possibly because of the domestic environment, and the central character being a bit 'hopeless', but this was much funnier, though I felt it didn't have as much to say. I didn't really take away any message from Billy Liar, and the ending I felt a little under-developed, though overall it was a great success.