Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey, Ever Decreasing Circles) and Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast, Nine Perfect Strangers) star in Marcelo Dos Santos’ hilarious new comedy Backstairs Billy, directed by Tony and Olivier award-winning director Michael Grandage.
1979. Inside Clarence House, The Queen Mother’s receptions are in full swing and the champagne is flowing. Guiding the proceedings is William ‘Billy’ Tallon, holder of the royal corgis and Her Majesty’s loyal servant.
Outside, strikes are bringing the country to its knees and Britain is on the verge of changing seismically under Margaret Thatcher. These two worlds are about to collide with dizzying consequences… Book your royal appointment today.
__Access Performances__
Captioned: 23rd November 7.30pm
Audio Described: 29th November 7.30pm
BSL: TBC
Their camaraderie may not have oiled the most crucial wheels of monarchy – as we cut between 1979 and 1952, when Tallon first arrived in the household as a callow youth, it’s made clear that the former Queen Consort is in constant danger of feeling like a spare part. But the energy lavished on enlivening the royal carry-on, against a backdrop of fiscal constraint and revolutionary winds of change, indicates the challenge of perpetuating the institution tout court.
Grandage’s production has its pleasures. Wilton brilliantly humanises the Queen Mother: tough, beady and remorselessly self-centred beneath her soft, powdery exterior, stewing in genteel displeasure that she’s been sidelined since her husband’s death, and staving off loneliness with gin and pointless chit-chat. Evans is a myopically snobbish, flamboyantly entertaining Billy, with his wicked, gimlet-eyed twinkle and swan-like, gliding efficiency. It is difficult to imagine how it could all be done better. But I’m also not entirely sure why you’d bother.
2023 | West End |
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