Billy Elliot the Forum

The story flows beautifully and has many surprises along the way. There was a wonderful moment at last night’s production when, after a particularly graphic moment, two people emerged on stage and a member of the audience very loudly exclaimed ‘Oh my God, what were they doing?’ It really is magical to get a reaction like that from an audience, many of whom – going by the conversations I overheard during the interval – hadn’t seen the show before and gave the cast a standing ovation at the end that could have gone on for hours.

However, the cast I saw were all absolutely amazing and I particularly want to single out Liam Mower, who was making his debut as Angelo. For me, Liam gave a masterful demonstration of the ability of dance and dancers to convey a story beautifully. When first we see Angelo, he is shy, diffident, downtrodden and so lacking in self confidence that as he sat on the seat alone, I just wanted to give him a huge hug. Once he meets Luca and his confidence begins to grow we see a marked change in the character – even prepared to stand up to his boss – and by the end after going through hell, a different Angelo is there for us to see. His demeanour, stance, facial expressions all spoke volumes of the man Angelo had become and the sacrifices he had made to get there. A truly fantastic slice of the skill of Liam in conveying this to us without a single word ever being uttered.

I’ve no interest in winning over divas, and I’m not up for too many things outside my own company. I was sent the original script for Billy Elliot and had an offer to direct Wicked. But I like writing my own stories.