“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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“The writing has sophistication and some jokes are funny but this is the epitome of theatre as light entertainment.”
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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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“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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“This impeccably played comedy of manners nicely balances palace gossip with broader ideas about class, power, and way that tradition can both comfort and stifle...We can’t live in the past forever, but this lively visit is a right royal romp.”
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“It’s amusing, and toys gingerly with social issues...Yet it never properly alights on any particular sense of purpose. Even in Michael Grandage’s supremely accomplished production, with flawless performances from Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans and a couple of real corgis scampering about, it is toothless.”
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“This right royal romp is uproariously funny but also gives a fascinating insight to the inner workings of that famous family. ‘Backstairs Billy’ is of course a fictionalised account of this particular relationship, but it feels so genuinely authentic you do feel like you’ve spent the evening in the company of a true Queen…and a lady named Elizabeth.”
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