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Whatever Happened To Billy Bignall?

Les Clarke

Genre: Comedic Drama

Cast size: 9

Duration: Two Act

Les Clarke | Comedic Drama | Full-length | 5m, 4f

Short synopsis

Multi award winning play. The play is set in an old folk’s home where Billy Bignall, who allegedly was a comedian in the grand old days of the Music Hall, continues to regale his fellow residents with tales from 'the Good Old Days'. No one believes him and he appears to be the object of ridicule from some of the residents, then a change of management results in the new manager wanting to put on a variety show by the residents for the residents. This is Billy’s big chance to prove to everyone that he was who he says he was but Billy refuses point blank to take part. The question is, why?

Billy Bignall tells everyone he was a music hall legend back in the day, but no-one really believes him and when he starts talking about showbiz, they tend to ignore him now; they’re fed up with listening to his make-believe-stories!  Billy has already had a falling out with Jack his best friend over it and Vicky had to intervene and calm them down and Morbid is acting very strangely and storms out talking about his own death!

The home has a new manager, Clive who wants to make some big changes which puts Matron’s nose out as it will cause disruption for the residents who like their set routines.  Clive has a holiday-camp background and wants to put on a show for the residents by the residents.  And having met Billy he wants him to be the star of the show. Elsie scoffs at the thought as she is another one who doesn’t believe a word about Billy and when Clive asks Billy he flatly refuses and won’t give a reason which further fuels the belief that he never did tread the boards back in the day.

Come the night of the concert, things go wrong and Jack tells Billy to go up there and show them how it’s done and he does, and brings the house down and everyone can see that Billy was telling the truth.  This is compounded further by a guest, Alf, who wants to meet Billy as he was a big fan of his in the Good Old Days.  But there is shock waiting for Alf and the other residents…

5m, 4f

  • Billy Bignall - mid 80s, short and well built, happy and full of life when he’s talking about showbiz, generally sad and wistful at other times (m)
  • Jack Morgan (not Welsh) - early 70s, Billy’s best friend, always smartly dressed in collar and tie, witty sense of humour (m)
  • Morbid - 82, very tall and thin, usually morose with the world on his shoulders (m)
  • Matron (Hilary) - late 40s - early 50s, very proper and slightly old-fashioned, wears a blue uniform (f)
  • Victoria - early to late 20s, bubbly and very friendly, truly cares about all the residents and they in turn love her for it, wears a white uniform (f)
  • Clive Bannister - early 30s, full of life and modern ideas, slightly o.t.t. at times, fails to see when he’s making a complete pratt of himself, dresses casually (m)
  • Elsie Tuttle - mid-to late 80s,  short, grumpy, knows her own mind, dislikes Billy (f)
  • Rose Bagford - mid 60s, overweight, always wears grubby cardigans that are invariably buttoned up wrong, walks with the aid of a stick, has senile dementia (f)
  • Alf Grainger - mid 80s, Northern, greatly admires Billy, needs a stick to assist with walking (m)

Playing ages may be changed to suit provided the ages are believable to the characters.

Multi-award winning play.

Type
Free

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Whatever Happened To Billy Bignall?

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