Character profiles and Audition Pieces

Billy Fisher Age 17-21
Billy is a complex character. A fairly typical lazy teenager, he feels trapped in his home and work life and longs to be something he can never be - hence his “disease” of constantly lying which grows out of his insecurity. His reposts, although humorous to the audience, are sincere and are driven by a dream to escape his unhappy life. There’s always something over the horizon that will make him happy, but he can’t seem to get there
Pages 4-13, 16-19, 29-31, 52-54

Geoffrey Fisher Age 40-50
Billy’s Dad, he is a relatively successful small businessman who lives to the old standard of life - respect and hard work. Billy is an anathema to all this, and his frustration and despair is obvious in every contact with his son. His constant use of the word ‘bloody’ is just a habit rather than an expletive, and despite his relationship with Billy, he really does love him.
Pages 2-7, 23-24

Alice Fisher Age 40-50
Alice is Billy’s Mum and is typical of the housewife/mother of the late 50’s and early 60’s. Her priority in life is to run a loving, organised and tidy home, look after her husband and family, and wants everything to be ‘normal’ and trouble free. She worries about her elderly mother, and even more about Billy with whom she tries to mix care with discipline. Despite everything, she accepts her lot in life and is as happy as she thinks any wife/mother should be.
Pages 2-4, 8-9, 35-37

Florence Boothroyd Age 75-85
Florence is Alice’s mother who lives with the family, and frequently in her own little world! She mutters to herself constantly and humorous lines come out more by accident rather than design. Having lived through two wars and survived, she cannot understand today’s young people and despairs of Billy, seeing him as a lost soul – not of her world. As she becomes increasingly ill, she falls further into her past life and accepts her fate.
Pages 1-3

Arthur Crabtree Age 17-25
As Billy’s workmate, Arthur is not necessarily a huge buddy of Billy, but they do have a fun relationship taking the mickey out of their work environment, home life, and the world that doesn’t involve them. Unlike Billy however, he has a more focused view on life, knowing that he has to work, that he has to mature, and that Billy is an idiot!
Pages 9-13, 63

Barbara Age 17-25
Barbara comes from a ‘very nice family’, is very naive due to a sheltered upbringing, and sees the world through very pretty and clinical rose coloured glasses. She has had very few relationships and lives in a dream world where her first serious boyfriend Billy will be the man who will make her dreams come true. Hence, she accepts his idiosyncrasies, shutting her mind to his sad reality.
Pages 16-19, 35-37

Rita Age 21-27
Born on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’, Rita lives alone with her mother, and has learnt about life the hard way. Consequently, she is very hardnosed, “rough” in many people’s eyes, but is determined that no-one will ever put her down. When Billy mucks her around, she reacts very harshly – not for laughs – but for her own survival. Attractive but very feisty, this is a very tough part to play to get the true reality of her existence.
Pages 29-31, 63

Liz Age 23-29
Slightly older (in her approach to life), Liz is a true bohemian. Again from a broken family, she has learnt that her future life is in her own hands - no-one will rule her, tell her, or distract her, and she really doesn’t need anyone in her life. She lives where she wants because wherever it is, that is her life. She is the epitome of what Billy wants to be but can never achieve.
Pages 52-54

Please e-mail Lynda if you would like a copy of the script prior to the audition.