BEXLEY GRAMMAR SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS
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Characters

Wikipedia
British comedy guide



William "Billy" Fisher - Billy is 19, and living with parents Alice and Geoffrey, and his grandmother, Florence Boothroyd. Billy lies compulsively to everyone he comes across, whether it's the claim that his father was a troubled writer who locked all his novels in the sideboard cupboard or telling his parents that Arthur's mother is pregnant. Billy works as a clerk for undertakers Shadrack & Duxbury. He is engaged to three girlfriends in the play, and is always talking about a job offer writing scripts in London for "Danny Boon", a comedian.

Alice Fisher - Billy's mother. She rarely sits down in the play, constantly working hard to keep the house tidy and look after her husband, her mother and Billy.

Geoffrey Fisher - Billy's father. Geoffrey uses the word "bloody" in his sentences so often it has lost all meaning. Geoffrey has been a successful garage owner and a man who works in the removal business so his family live middle class lives despite his working class background. Geoffrey has a short temper, but otherwise rarely shows emotion.

Florence Boothroyd - Billy's grandmother, Alice's mother. She is ignored by her family and never seen a loved character until the end. Florence talks to the sideboard more than her own family, and is always drinking tea out of a pint-pot. She keeps pots of condensed milk upstairs. Florence falls ill in Act 2 and is taken upstairs. By Act 3 she has died.

Barbara - One of Billy's fiancées He refers to her as "The Witch". Barbara is prudish, always eating oranges and harbours dreams of living with Billy in a cottage in Devon, with "little Billy and little Barbara". Finds out about other girlfriends later in the play.

Rita - Rita is 17, is short, but comes across as a "hard lass". She is engaged to Billy, and has a habit of mimicking Billy every time he offers an excuse for her missing engagement ring. Unbeknown to her, it is on Barbara's finger. She appears in Acts 2 and 3.

Liz - A scruffy girl in need of a new skirt, she is nevertheless the one who truly understands Billy, and the only one he really has a genuine interest in. Before her appearance, Billy pretends he doesn't have much interest in her, but it is clear when she appears that he is still smitten with
her.


Social Context

•Billy Liar is set in 1960, in a Northern industrial town. •
•
The play revolves around the Fisher family, in particular the 19 year old son Billy.
•
This was a time of great social change in Britain (Sexual revolution), where a younger generation were disillusioned by the traditional conservative values of their parents generation.
•Billy is driven to lying all the time because he is so disillusioned with the life and behaviour society dictates he should have.
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  • Home
  • DRAMA
    • Drama skills and techniques >
      • Freeze frame/ Still image
      • Mime
      • Thought in The Head
      • Narration
    • Practitoners and theorists >
      • Alecky Blyth
      • Artaud
      • Berkoff
      • Brecht
      • Dario Fo
      • Godber
      • Stanislavski
    • Theatre Companies >
      • Complicite
      • DV8
      • Ex Machina
      • Fevered Sleep
      • Forced Entertainment
      • Forkbeard Fantasy
      • Frantic Assembly
      • Gecko
      • Kneehigh
      • The Paper Birds
      • Pig Pen Theatre
      • Punchdrunk
      • Trestle
      • Tangled feet
      • The Wooster Group
      • 1927
    • Theatre Styles and Traditions >
      • Commedia dell'arte
      • Creative Adaptation
      • Docudrama
      • Multimedia
      • Physical Theatre
      • Puppetry
      • Total Theatre
    • Design Element >
      • Lighting
    • Year 7 Drama >
      • Introduction to Drama
      • year 7 self assessment
      • Haunted Lift
      • Exam revision
    • Year 8 Drama >
      • year 8 exam revision
      • Romeo and Juliet
      • Anne Frank
      • previous year 8 >
        • 8MLO
        • 8EA
        • 8NSS
        • 8DJB
        • 8AWS
        • 8SFG
        • 8JR
        • 8JS
        • 8MPL
        • 8MML
        • 8RPP
        • 8WEA
    • Year 9 Drama >
      • Devising
      • Billy Liar
      • Theatre in Education
      • Blue Remembered Hills
      • KAG Year 9 self assessment
    • GCSE Drama >
      • Blood Brothers >
        • Blood Brothers full performance
      • GCSE (year 10) blog
      • Devising
      • Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time
      • GCSE Revision
    • IB Theatre and Lit and Performance >
      • IB blog
      • IB Theatre Blog 2015-16
    • Literature and Performance 2015
    • Archived pages >
      • A-Level Drama >
        • A Doll's House
        • Response To Live Theatre >
          • The Play That Goes Wrong
          • Dead Dog in a Suitcase
        • A Servant of Two Masters
        • Our Country's Good >
          • OCG lesson materials
          • act 1 videos
        • Supporting notes AS guidance
        • Supporting notes A2
      • Trip letters
      • 39 Steps
      • Camera Lucida
      • John
      • Old GCSE work >
        • Choral narration
        • Year 10- telling the story physically >
          • Bazier- Telling story to Music
  • MUSIC
    • INSTRUMENTAL LESSONS >
      • Terms & Conditions
    • Extra-curricular music 2022-23
    • IB Music
    • GCSE MUSIC >
      • GCSE MUSIC SET WORKS
  • PRODUCTIONS
    • The Ash Girl
    • Sister Act 2019 >
      • Sister Act CAST FORM
      • SAcharacters
      • SASongs
    • Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
    • SchoolOfRock >
      • SOR-CAST-FORM
      • SORcharacters
      • SORsong
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • Olivertwist
    • SPAMALOT!
    • Sound of Music 2016
    • Concert videos
    • QuizNight
    • TheWonderfulWizardofOz >
      • wiztops
    • Cinelive- Gregory's Girl at the Barbican
    • Peter Pan 2015
    • Beauty&Beast
    • As You Like It 2015
    • Alice in Wonderland 2015
    • FAME 2014
    • Summer Fayre 2014 Performing Arts Tent
    • Lion, Witch & the Wardrobe 2013
    • Shakespeare Schools Festival 2013
    • 'The Innocents' at The Barbican 2013
    • Hairspray 2013
  • Film Studies
    • Mr. Otley's film blog
    • Best film studies youtube
    • Film Podcasts