Billy Wonderful
By: Nick Leather
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Published: 2009
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 84
Description: A play about fathers, sons and football, 'Billy Wonderful', first staged at the Liverpool Everyman in 2009, is a fast-paced coming-of-age play pulsing with all the excitement and physicality of match-day. As one-time boy wonder Billy Walters relives his debut in a Merseyside derby at the age of nineteen, ninety minutes cut across twenty-two years and fellow players become family and friends, enemies and lovers. Both Billy and the play are consumed by football: match commentators hover over his life, and fans shout their chants over the scenes. Billy flickers between an eager and hopeful child, self-satisfied young man convinced he is at the top of his game, and a slightly older but disillusioned drifter, desperate not to miss out on his dream and end up like his father. Billy Wonderful is a captivating story of fame and fortune, disappointment and family.