Backstairs Billy (West End) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (102)
See it if You like a good, clever comedy based on actual facts and seeing great actors on stage.
Don't see it if You don't like comedies.
See it if You like comedies that have an occasional serious turn. Set is terrific.
Don't see it if You don’t like dogs, monarchs, or good theatre!
See it if A great comedy with entertaining performances. Really enjoyable.
Don't see it if You don’t find the elites funny. Or easily offended. There’s a bit of crude humour in here.
See it if You want a comedy
Don't see it if You are homophobic
See it if you wanna see the funniest thing this year
Don't see it if you don't like British humour
See it if This is a story of the late Queen mother and her Butler. The show is very entertaining and you will come out smiling and remembering quotes.
Don't see it if Funny plays
See it if you want to see one of the most impressive staging with truly beautiful decorations and REAL corgis
Don't see it if you don't like stories about the royal family or if you're expecting something too serious
See it if You adore the Queen Mother. You will adore her even more.
Don't see it if You think the monarchy should not be the subject of broad humor.
Critic Reviews (14)
“Grandage’s production is consistently funny, and the performances entertain, but this play really doesn’t know what it’s saying.”
Read more
“The writing has sophistication and some jokes are funny but this is the epitome of theatre as light entertainment.”
Read more
“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”
Read more
“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.”
Read more
“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.”
Read more
“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.”
Read more
“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.”
Read more
“...’Backstairs Billy’ is at its strongest when it brings its twisted dynamics to life. Still, even in its fluffiest moments, it’s altogether enjoyable”
Read more