Middle Ground Theatre Company Ltd
are delighted to present

   
   

BILLY LIAR

By Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
Directed & designed by Michael Lunney

SPRING 2010

Star cast includes

HELEN FRASER
NATHAN HANNAN
SALLY SANDERS
JULIA MALLAM (Emmerdale)
LUCY EVANS (Coronation Street)
JIM MORLEY
JANEY LAWSON
CHRIS GRAHAMSON

Click here for TOUR DATES or CAST PROFILES or PRODUCTION PHOTOS or PRESS QUOTES or PROMO VIDEO
 
 

Notice: Middle Ground Theatre Company would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Keith Waterhouse, who died on Friday 4th September at the age of 80. We hope our production will act as a fitting tribute to a talented and much admired novelist and playwright.
Billy Fisher is an undertaker’s clerk in a dull Yorkshire town. He escapes, Walter Mitty-like, the boredom of his humdrum existence by daydreaming his way to a mythical fantasy kingdom “Ambrosia”, where Billy becomes ruler, hero and lover! He continually makes up stories about himself and his family, earning him the nickname ‘Billy Liar’.

With his mixture of deceit and good intentions, immaturity and intelligence, Billy’s lying extends to his work and romantic life. He’s succeeded in becoming engaged to two different girls, the drippy prim, virginal Barbara and the brassy foul-mouthed Rita, while in love with a third, the beautiful free spirited Liz. Minor indiscretions begin to snowball with beautiful comic effect until finally his life is a total mess and nobody believes a single word he says. Eventually Billy has a chance to board the train to London and a new life but will he get on it?

Starting life as a novel by Keith Waterhouse, it was adapted for the stage by Waterhouse and his old friend Willis Hall. This charming ,warm ,witty and sensitive timeless comic masterpiece is compelling storytelling for anyone whoever had misgivings about their place in the world and the constant dreams of something better.

The original Hit West End production saw Albert Finney cast in the title role with Tom Courtney taking over.
John Schlesinger’s beautiful filmed version of 1963, with the brilliant Courtney as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, received no less than six BAFTA nominations and was recently included in the British Film Institute’s poll of The 100 Greatest British Films Of All Time.

The novel of “Billy Liar” has never been out of print and is part of the staple diet on school’s study curriculum reading lists.

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