brand new comedy

Luke Evans and Penelope Wilton will light up the West End in Marcelo Dos Santo's new comedy about one of the most enduring relationships in the Royal Family's history - that between the Queen Mother and her Page of the Backstairs, William Tallon (otherwise known as the titular Backstairs Billy). 

Directed by Michael Grandage, the play takes us back to 1979, during Billy's first year in service to the Queen Mother. As Britain simmers with political tension during the most tumultuous days of Magaret Thatcher's premiership, the grandeur of Clarence House provides a safe haven. And it's going to take more than a few gin martinis to face the outside world!

In the service of the Queen Mother from 1978 until her death in 2002, William was a steady and faithful Steward. Eschewing tabloid rumours and offers, he never wrote a tell-all memoir and turned down every request for interview. When he died in 2007, his funeral was attended by over 200 mourners, including Derek Jacobi, Patricia Routledge, Paul O'Grady, and the Earl of Snowdon.