Review: Billy Elliot at Curve, Leicester
I’m not sure how I managed to not see Billy Elliot the Musical until now, considering that it was an enormous hit and ran on the West End for a very impressive 11 years. I’ve also seen the film upon which the musical is based several times, most recently on a plane a few years ago.
When I saw that our nearest major theatre, Leicester’s Curve, was reviving Billy Elliot for a limited run this year, I couldnt’t snap up a pair of tickets quickly enough.
What’s it about?
(Please note: review will contain plot spoilers.)
It’s 1984 and the miners’ strike is underway. Motherless 11-year-old Billy Elliot lives in a small town in County Durham with his dad Jackie, brother Tony, and grandma Edna. After staying behind after his boxing class one evening and witnessing an all-girls’ ballet class, Billy becomes captivated by the dance and begins to attend the lessons without his family’s knowledge.
When Jackie finds out, he forbids Billy from dancing any more, but ballet teacher Mrs. Wilkinson has seen Billy’s potential. Instead of giving up on her young prodigy, she begins to privately coach Billy in preparation to audition for the Royal Ballet School.
Any content notes?
This is a very sweary show, with uses of bad language throughout. There’s also some homophobic language that is in context and makes sense for the time and setting of this story, but may still be upsetting to hear.
There’s also a significant amount of violence including the boxing class, at least two incidents where someone punches somebody else, and where the police clash with the striking miners. The harsh realities of the miners’ strike and its impact are not shied away from in this production.
There are a couple of sex references, and some of the characters smoke on-stage.
This show uses extensive flashing lights, smoke, haze, and pyrotechnics.
The official age guidance for Billy Elliot is 12+. I’d be more inclined to set it closer to 15+ honestly (the same age rating as the film), but I am in my 30s and have no children so it is entirely possible I’m wildly out of touch with what is and isn’t considered appropriate for young people.
Billy Elliot: My Review
Just before going into the auditorium to take our seats for this show, I texted my mum to tell her we were seeing it (my parents have seen it twice and raved about it.) “It’ll make you cry!” she warned, and she was not wrong. Billy Elliot is a deeply emotional show with a big heart and a lot to say. It deals with issues of family and loss, class, masculinity, gender roles, individuality, community, and the necessity of the arts and creative expression. Though I teared up at several points, it was the two scenes with Billy’s letters to and from his dead mother (played as a ghostly yet comforting presence by Jessica Daley) that really broke me.
As is usually the way with shows in which children play a prominent role, there are several cast members for each of the main child roles and two groups for the children's chorus. We say Samuel Newby play Billy, Pearl Ball play Debbie, and Prem Masani play Michael.
Samuel Newby as Billy and Jonathan Dryden Taylor as a police officer in Billy Elliot. Official production photo.
Newby, who has previously appeared in productions including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Les Miserables: The Staged Concert, is an exceptionally talented young performer. He cannot be much older than the character he plays, and yet carries this physically demanding and emotionally intense show in a role that rarely sees him offstage. Newby is a skilled actor with a great voice, but it was his dancing that truly shone in this performance. The Angry Dance/Riot scene that closed Act 1 was genuinely breathtaking, with Lucy Hind’s choreography marrying rage and passion, boxing and ballet into one dynamite package.
The entire cast was excellent but the other two star performances, from my perspective, were Sally Ann Triplett as the fierce and determined Mrs. Wilkinson, and Joe Caffrey as the angry, grief-stricken Jackie Elliot. Watching them both try to love and support Billy in their very different ways, clashing with one another and ultimately becoming united by their wish to see him happy and successful, is one of the most powerful emotional arcs of the show.
Joe Caffrey as Jackie Elliot. Official production photo.
Rachel Izen (whose extraordinary career includes being the first woman to play Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol) gives a wonderful character turn as Billy’s Grandma. Her performance of “Grandma’s Song”, in which she reflects on her abusive marriage and the joy she found in dancing, will both make you laugh and quietly break your heart.
Billy Elliot’s score was written by Elton John. There are some beautiful and moving songs, particularly the showstopping “Electricity”, in which Billy describes how it feels when he dances.
My partner, the far more musically-minded and talented of the two of us, went “ohhhhhh yeah that makes sense” when I showed him the name of the composer at the interval. He mentioned that he could hear the influence of various music from the era in which the show is set in its score (until I told him otherwise, he actually assumed it had been written in the mid-’80s.) The song “Solidarity” also draws directly from the popular union anthem, “Solidarity Forever”, though in this show it takes on a rather darker tone.
The cast of Billy Elliot in a scene in which striking miners clash with police officers. Official production photo.
The other standout aspect of this production lies in its use of set and space. Curve is an interesting theatre in that its stage is absolutely huge, both in width and height. This enables some fantastic and creative staging, such as a three-storey scaffolding-style set piece as the Elliots’ house and the use of constantly moving fencing to create a boxing hall, a ballet class, a picket line, a sense of being penned in and trapped. There are so many things going on at once that it’s often hard to know where to look. The occasional use of characters entering through the auditorium and directly past the audience gives the production an immersive, immediate quality.
If I have a significant criticism of this show, it lies in an aspect of the writing and not in anything to do with this production’s direction or performances. There are several moments, most notably the boxing class scene early in Act 1, where instances of bullying and violence are played for laughs. In a show that has several truly funny moments (“…is queer?”/“…Esquire” actually made me laugh out loud), making light of these objectively unfunny things isn’t needed, is uncomfortable to watch, and actually detracts from the show’s overall message.
On the whole, though, Billy Elliot was a wonderful emotional journey that reminds us all to follow our hearts and chase our dreams. With some stellar central performances, a great score, and some of the most creative staging I’ve seen, I’m delighted to give it four and a half stars and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Where to get tickets
Billy Elliot runs at Leicester’s Curve Theatre until 20th August 2022 and there are a handful of tickets left for most performances. Visit the Curve booking site or call the box office on 0116 242 3595 to book.