Backstairs Billy - Paperback

by Marcelo Dos Santos (Author)

1979. Clarence House, London. The Queen Mother's receptions are in full swing and the champagne is flowing. Guiding the proceedings is William 'Billy' Tallon, page of the backstairs, keeper of the keys, holder of the royal corgis - and the royal secrets.

Outside the palace walls, unemployment, inflation and industrial action are bringing Britain to its knees, and the country is on the verge of changing seismically under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. These two worlds are about to collide, with dizzying consequences for everyone...

Backstairs Billy examines the fifty-year relationship between the Queen Mother and her most loyal, most outrageous servant, who joined her household at the age of fifteen. Marcelo Dos Santos's irreverent comedy was first produced by the Michael Grandage Company at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in 2023, directed by Grandage and starring Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans.

Author Biography

Marcelo Dos Santos is an award-winning playwright and scriptwriter. His plays include: Backstairs Billy (West End, 2023); Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen (Summerhall, Edinburgh, 2022 and Bush Theatre, London, 2023); New Labour (RADA, 2014, directed by Richard Wilson); Lionboy adapted from the novels by Zizou Corder (Complicite, 2013 and 2014); Lovers Walk (Southwark Playhouse); and Cheer Up, This is Only the Beginning (Liverpool Playhouse).