7 April: Billy Liar

 

I thought that we could read Billy Liar this month, and follow it up in May with a more modern, perhaps comparable, play The Kitchen Sink.  I think they will make a good pairing, Billy Liar being one of the original Kitchen Sink dramas of the 1950s/60s and The Kitchen Sink being, well ... a 2011 Kitchen Sink drama!

Billy Liar

By Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall

Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse that was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and been featured in a number of popular songs.

The semi-comical story is about William Fisher, a working-class 19-year-old living with his parents in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in Yorkshire. Bored by his job as a lowly clerk for an undertaker, Billy spends his time indulging in fantasies and dreams of life in the big city as a comedy writer.

Characters

William "Billy" Fisher:  Billy is 19, and living with parents and grandmother. Billy lies compulsively to everyone he comes across, and he constantly refers to a vague job offer writing scripts in London for comedian "Danny Boon".
Alice Fisher:  Billy's mother. 
Geoffrey Fisher:  Billy's father. 
Florence Boothroyd:  Billy's grandmother, Alice's mother. 
Arthur Crabtree:  Billy's best friend. Arthur works at Shadrack & Duxbury with Billy.
Barbara: One of Billy's fiancees.
Rita:   One of Billy's fiancees.
Liz:  Another love interest of Billy's.