Monday 13th - Saturday 18th April 2026
Backstairs Billy
We have two wheelchairs spaces as indicated on the seating plan above.
To check availability and book please contact the Box Office on 01926 856548 (or email us through our Contact Us page)
Click for Seating Plan
Upstairs, downstairs…and in between!
by Marcelo Dos Santos
Directed by Steve Smith
Take a sneaky peek behind the scenes at Clarence House, the fabulous London home of the Queen Mother, in this irreverent comedy.
It’s 1979, receptions are in full swing, champagne is flowing and Billy Tallon, Page of the Backstairs, is on top of his own little world. Outside the palace walls, however, unemployment, inflation and industrial action threaten to bring the country to its knees. Cue Margaret Thatcher!
Backstairs Billy examines the fifty-year relationship between the Queen Mother and her most loyal, most outrageous servant, which is rocked when palace life and the outside world begin to collide.
Age recommendation: 15+ or at parental discretion. Suggested sexual content and some strong language.
An amateur production by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.
PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES
We have two wheelchair spaces available for each performance. To book wheelchair spaces, be added to the waiting list or ticket returns, please contact Box Office on 01926 856548 (or via our Contact Us page)
Talisman Theatre and Arts Centre
Barrow Road, Kenilworth CV8 1FN
We have two wheelchairs spaces as indicated on the seating plan above.
To check availability and book please contact the Box Office on 01926 856548 (or email us through our Contact Us page)
Click for Seating Plan
SHOW DETAILS
Upstairs, downstairs…and in between!
by Marcelo Dos Santos
Directed by Steve Smith
Take a sneaky peek behind the scenes at Clarence House, the fabulous London home of the Queen Mother, in this irreverent comedy.
It’s 1979, receptions are in full swing, champagne is flowing and Billy Tallon, Page of the Backstairs, is on top of his own little world. Outside the palace walls, however, unemployment, inflation and industrial action threaten to bring the country to its knees. Cue Margaret Thatcher!
Backstairs Billy examines the fifty-year relationship between the Queen Mother and her most loyal, most outrageous servant, which is rocked when palace life and the outside world begin to collide.
Age recommendation: 15+ or at parental discretion. Suggested sexual content and some strong language.
An amateur production by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.
CAST & CREW
Cast
William Tallon – Michael Seeley
The Queen Mother – Gill Halford
Gwydion – Jack Ives
Ian – Glenn May
Mr Kerr – Mike Tildesley
Annabelle Maude – Sally Jolliffe
Mrs Harrington-Bahr – Jill Laurie
Mr Harrington-Bahr – Maurice Smith
Lady Miffie Astlebury – Amy Jolliffe
Hugo McCoyd – Colin Ritchie
Lady Adeline – Wendy Morris
Young Billy – Laurie Weston
Queen Mothers Dresser – Jane Yates
Footman – Suneil Bagri
Footman – Vaibhav Walunj
Footman – Kenneth Lam
Maid – Camilla Attuoni
Creatives & Crew
Director – Steve Smith
Set Designer – Steve Smith and Wendy Morris
Production Manager – Wendy Elliott
Wardrobe – Emily Tuff and Rosie Gowers
Lighting – Nigel Elliott
Sound – Dik Thacker
Properties – Jane Yates and Team
Assistant Production Manager – Glenn May
Set Build – Talisman Set Build Team
Publicity – Sharon Sully and Dylan Oates
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
I think I must have a propensity for appearing in and directing plays which have an element of truth in them. They include Taking Sides, about the denazification programme after WWII, Breaking the Code, about Alan Turing and the Enigma Code, The King’s Speech, about George VI and his stammer and now Backstairs Billy, about Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s loyal, though very naughty, servant, Billy Tallon. That Backstairs Billy was a very real person has been confirmed to me this week by two different sources. One frequent Talisman audience member told me that her friend went to school with him in Coventry, and another person said they knew two footmen (twins, apparently) who had worked with him at Clarence House. What a small world!
What these plays also share is a link to the Second World War and the Royal Family. Though no royalist, I am a product of a 1950’s childhood, when the war and the role of the royals in maintaining morale were still very much in the air. I have a very strong memory of a blue, hardback book in my childhood home, full of pictures of the royals at work and play.
While Marcelo dos Santos’ play, Backstairs Billy, is, of course, a theatrical invention, it is based on the 50 year relationship between the Queen Mother and her servant Billy Tallon, and is shot through with reports of real events as well as strong rumours of his often outrageous behaviour.The real events include the heyday of Arthur Scargill, economic collapse in the UK, riots in Southall and the subsequent rise of Margaret Thatcher, but the play is above all a comedy with a heart. Billy’s and the QM’s affection for each other is predicated on the loneliness they both experienced, hidden away in Clarence House – “..our funny little court” as Her Majesty joked.
The whole Backstairs Billy cast and crew hope you enjoy this delightful and cheeky play as much as we have loved bringing it to the stage.
Steve Smith
SCENE SYNOPSIS
Scenes 1 – 3: The Garden Room of Clarence House, 1979
Scene 4: Same location, 1952
Scenes 5 – 9: The Garden Room, 1979
CAST PHOTOS
Michael Seeley
Gill Halford
Jack Ives
Glenn May
Mike Tildesley
Sally Jolliffe
Jill Laurie
Maurice Smith
Amy Jolliffe
Colin Ritchie
Wendy Morris
Laurie Weston
Suneil Bagri
