The Stage

Billy Liar

Published Thursday 9 September 2010 at 11:30 by Kevin Berry

First staged 5O years ago, with Albert Finney in the lead role, Billy Liar is sometimes described as kitchen sink but is more kitchen sink in a respectable semi-detached. The eponymous hero has a wild imagination, reacting to every comment, every situation with yet another astonishing fib.

Charlotte Mills (Barbara) and Paul-Ryan Carberry (Billy Fisher) in Billy Liar at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds Photo: Keith Pattison

The director of this revival, Nick Bagnall, first read the Billy Liar script 23 years ago and has been enthusing about it ever since. He calls it a punk play. His Billy, Paul-Ryan Carberry, is a young man pushing against dull conformity and searching for an identity.

Bagnall and his actors make the play relevant and fresh rather than a charming museum piece. They have approached it as if it were a new play. The family living room, which dominates the set, has exaggerated perspective and an oppressive ceiling - no lighting rigs are above the cast. The conformity of the period needs no further emphasis.

Carberry excels as the lead and his fibs becoming increasingly annoying. His Billy could do with a slap, but that is a compliment. Charlotte Mills stands out as a frumpy girlfriend. She demonstrates exemplary timing and a clear physical identity. The absence of choreographic input - at least there were no credits in the programme - is noticeable with some of the other characters.

Fifty years on and still going strong - Billy Liar sits firmly in its period, but is as relevant now as it ever was.