" 'Backstairs Billy' is a witty take on the royal household and the goings-on behind the scenes that most people would never be a part of, and the snappy one-liners come thick and fast, but it’s all tinged with a hint of sadness, and that’s what will stay with you long after the laughter stops."
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“Those who might dismiss ‘Backstairs Billy’ as so much heightened gossip would do well to heed its warning about societal divides that on this evidence can never be breached.”
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“Abounding with witty entertainment and curiosity value, augmented by scene-stealing appearances from two real-life corgis, it confirms the promise shown by Marcelo Dos Santos with his comic monologue”
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“Marcelo Dos Santos’s ‘Backstairs Billy’ is a strange thing. Not six characters in search of an author, but a set of good lines in search of a play...’Backstairs Billy’, for all its humour, feels like a smudged snapshot rather than a fully realised portrait.”
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“Grandage’s production is consistently funny, and the performances entertain, but this play really doesn’t know what it’s saying.”
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“...’Backstairs Billy’ is at its strongest when it brings its twisted dynamics to life. Still, even in its fluffiest moments, it’s altogether enjoyable”
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“The writing has sophistication and some jokes are funny but this is the epitome of theatre as light entertainment.”
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“There’s something gleefully subversive about Dos Santos’s script and Grandage’s bouncy production, which makes it compelling. It’s harder-edged than the simple, ‘joyful comedy’ about an odd-couple friendship that it’s promoted as in the accompanying blurb...It has some great one-liners, gives us a roll call of colourfully eccentric or over-privileged people to laugh at… and there are actual corgis.”
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