How to book | Home Page | How to find us | Forthcoming productions

Audition Information

Billy Liar, by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. Directed by Ian Crowe

Performance dates: Saturday 24th July, then 26th - 31st July 2010 at 7.45pm, plus matinée at 2.30pm on 31st.

Chesil Theatre Logo

Billy Liary poster

Reading: Friday 23rd April at 7.45pm

Auditions: Sunday 25th at 2.30pm and Monday 26th April at 7.45pm

*NOTE: to get a part in a play you need only attend one of the auditions and you do not need to attend the reading. You do not need to be a member of the Chesil Theatre to audition, but you must join if you take part in a production. The readings and auditions are held at the Theatre.

Billy Liar is a play which is partly comedy, but has several other depths.

It offers excellent and challenging ensemble acting opportunities for five young people i.e. between the ‘no longer needs a matron’ criterion to mid twenties; mother and father who could believably be parents; and a grandmother.

It is set in a Northern town in the 1960’s and will need a multifunctional set incorporating both internal and external venues, costumes, props and effects appropriate to that period.

The characters, apart from Rita who is working class, come from a lower-middle class background in an industrial town in the North.

Living together in the family home are Billy Fisher (late teens to middle 20’s), his father Geoffrey and Mother Alice (40 to 50+), and Alice’s mother, Florence Boothroyd (70+).

These suggested ages are adaptable as long as the result is an age-right, believable family, familiar with each other’s ways and foibles.

Arthur Crabtree (late teens to middle 20’s) is a workmate and pal of Billy.

Girlfriends of Billy, Barbara, Rita and Liz, are of a similar age to him. The accents of all the characters should be appropriate to the area, but not over broad or exaggerated.

William "Billy" Fisher	Stuck in a boring world working as a clerk for an undertaker's. Much of his life is lived out in vivid fantasies.
Alice Fisher	Always rushes about tidying up and looking after her mother, so that she never gets a chance to sit down for more than a few seconds.
Geoffrey Fisher	A successful businessman. Both he and Alice have had working-class upbringing. He has a short temper and often never shows emotion.
Florence Boothroyd	Spends much of her time rambling to herself; has daydreams related to her past. [Acts 1 & 2 only].
Arthur Crabtree	Initially a feed for Billy he joins him in routines including putting on thicker Northern accents than is normal. Begins being sympathetic towards him but becomes impatient.
Barbara	Outwardly a stolid, bovine character always eating oranges but also having fantasies of a different sort. [Acts 1 & 2 only].
Rita	Simple and extrovert, raucously irreverent. [Act 2 only]
Liz	Known as ‘Scruffy Lizzie’, she is down to earth and radiates warmth and generosity. [Act 3 only].

How to book | Home Page | How to find us | Forthcoming productions