Billy Liar

Billy Liar is a play by Keith Waterhouse [1] (1929-2009) and Willis Hall [2] (1929-2005).

The original text

The play is a three-act stage adaptation of Waterhouse's 1959 novel Billy Liar [3]. First performed in 1960.

It tells the story of the compulsive liar Billy, who has an uninspiring dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant and lives at home with his family in a sleepy Yorkshire town. His three fiancées fail to keep him adequately occupied and Billy leads a second life in his imagination. Billy's problems come when he is unable to separate fantasy from reality, and so embroils himself in a web of tangled lies, with painfully comic results. [4]

Translations and adaptations

A film version was made in 1963,

Performance history in South Africa

1961: Performed at the Alexander Theatre starring Michael McGovern as Billy, opening in November.

1966: Staged by the University of Cape Town Drama Department in The Little Theatre, directed by Rosalie van der Gucht, with a cast including Peter Kruger as Billy and Joyce Burch as Florence.

1968: Presented by The Sandowners, starring , among others, Brenda Wood.

1985: Presented by NAPAC at the Alhambra Theatre, Durban, directed by Erica Rogers, from 11 March 1985. The cast: Dai Bradley, John Hussey, Pat Sanders, Susie Gehr, David Butler, Mandy Wildman and Beverly Goodin.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Liar#Play

https://www.amazon.com/Billy-Liar-Play-Waterhouse-Hall/dp/0237490269

The Amorous Prawn programme notes, 1961.

Little Theatre programme, 1966.

Theatre programme held by NELM: [Collection: KORT, Maurice]: 2012. 379. 6. 56. (NAPAC 1985).

Report by Raeford Daniel, The Rand Daily Mail, 10 January 1985.

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