Dear Billy Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 18th May 2023 Review
Dear Billy, a National Theatre of Scotland Production by Glasgow-based playwright, director and performer Gary McNair is at the Traverse Theatre for three nights (Thu 18 to Sat 20 May), and the show is exactly what it claims to be in its publicity – “A love letter to the Big Yin, from the people of Scotland”.
If you do not know who “the Big Yin” is then the chances are that you have been living in some remote part of the world cut off from all modern mass means of communication, or have been dwelling deep in a cave somewhere and not come out for decades. We are of course talking about Scottish comedian, actor, artist, writer, musician, and television presenter Billy Connolly, a man who many people know personally and who so many more people in Scotland and across the world feel that they know not only personally, but intimately, although they have never met him in person.
What is it that has endeared so many people across every social, economic, religious and racial divide take Billy Connolly into their hearts in a way that few performers or public figures ever manage to do? This show by Gary McNair attempts to answer this question by asking many different people that question and bringing their responses to the stage in his own unique style with anecdotes that range from very funny to incredibly delicate and touching.
It is clear that Billy Connolly means so much to so many different people in so many ways and he has both directly and indirectly touched so many people’s lives in a positive way, and even with his humour saved at least one life (and probably many more).
This show could so easily have been a rather dull story of the life of Billy Connolly, tracing his life from a difficult childhood, working in the Glasgow shipyards, folk singer, his time with the Humblebums (with Tam Harvey and Gerry Rafferty), stand up comedy, acting, writing and much more. All of this would still have told a remarkable story of a remarkable man, but something else happened along the way. Somehow, despite all this success, Billy Connolly never left his roots, and the many people that identified with his in your face, often expletive-ridden and at times very controversial humour never left him. So many people, particularly those from Glasgow, identified with “the Big Yin”, he knew them, their humour and their lives, and they in return knew him…a symbiotic connection that remains very unique.
To bring all of these stories to the stage requires a performer who also has that connection with an audience, and Gary McNair is such a performer. From the moment you enter Traverse 1 and see the stage with its giant blue neon glasses, Wellington boot and banana skin, and more visual prop connections, it was obvious that this show could only be about one man. The fact that Gary McNair bore a good passing resemblance to the man himself both visually and in performance style of course helped create the illusion of Billy Connolly being with us on stage even more. To be clear though, this is absolutely not a tribute show and Gary McNair is not doing an impression on stage here, it is just that the two performance styles merge wonderfully for this production.
This show is a fitting tribute to Billy Connolly in the way that he would probably appreciate the most, making people laugh, and there was a lot of that tonight as stories about how people met, or didn’t meet, Billy were interwoven with references to some of his most famous moments on stage and television. Who will ever forget the “needed somewhere to park my bike” joke?
Billy Connolly was perhaps fortunate to come from a time when his style of humour could actually take to the stage, television, records and videos. Whilst some of the humour of these times from other people is not now funny, somehow Billy’s work remains almost untouched. We live now in a world of political correctness that seems to find so much offence in everything and everyone and along the way have almost stripped stand-up comedy of its life force because they have never understood that so often it is not what someone says that it is important but how they say it and to whom they say it. Billy Connolly is a great example of this and so often with controversial humour he united people by making them look at their own selves.
Few people can say that they made a difference to this world by bringing laughter to millions of people, bringing people from many different divides together, touched many people’s lives directly and indirectly and still retained their own unique identity along the way. Billy Connolly can say all of these things and this show is simply a thank you from so many people to him for what he has brought to their lives in so many different ways.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If you do not know who “the Big Yin” is then the chances are that you have been living in some remote part of the world cut off from all modern mass means of communication, or have been dwelling deep in a cave somewhere and not come out for decades. We are of course talking about Scottish comedian, actor, artist, writer, musician, and television presenter Billy Connolly, a man who many people know personally and who so many more people in Scotland and across the world feel that they know not only personally, but intimately, although they have never met him in person.
What is it that has endeared so many people across every social, economic, religious and racial divide take Billy Connolly into their hearts in a way that few performers or public figures ever manage to do? This show by Gary McNair attempts to answer this question by asking many different people that question and bringing their responses to the stage in his own unique style with anecdotes that range from very funny to incredibly delicate and touching.
It is clear that Billy Connolly means so much to so many different people in so many ways and he has both directly and indirectly touched so many people’s lives in a positive way, and even with his humour saved at least one life (and probably many more).
This show could so easily have been a rather dull story of the life of Billy Connolly, tracing his life from a difficult childhood, working in the Glasgow shipyards, folk singer, his time with the Humblebums (with Tam Harvey and Gerry Rafferty), stand up comedy, acting, writing and much more. All of this would still have told a remarkable story of a remarkable man, but something else happened along the way. Somehow, despite all this success, Billy Connolly never left his roots, and the many people that identified with his in your face, often expletive-ridden and at times very controversial humour never left him. So many people, particularly those from Glasgow, identified with “the Big Yin”, he knew them, their humour and their lives, and they in return knew him…a symbiotic connection that remains very unique.
To bring all of these stories to the stage requires a performer who also has that connection with an audience, and Gary McNair is such a performer. From the moment you enter Traverse 1 and see the stage with its giant blue neon glasses, Wellington boot and banana skin, and more visual prop connections, it was obvious that this show could only be about one man. The fact that Gary McNair bore a good passing resemblance to the man himself both visually and in performance style of course helped create the illusion of Billy Connolly being with us on stage even more. To be clear though, this is absolutely not a tribute show and Gary McNair is not doing an impression on stage here, it is just that the two performance styles merge wonderfully for this production.
This show is a fitting tribute to Billy Connolly in the way that he would probably appreciate the most, making people laugh, and there was a lot of that tonight as stories about how people met, or didn’t meet, Billy were interwoven with references to some of his most famous moments on stage and television. Who will ever forget the “needed somewhere to park my bike” joke?
Billy Connolly was perhaps fortunate to come from a time when his style of humour could actually take to the stage, television, records and videos. Whilst some of the humour of these times from other people is not now funny, somehow Billy’s work remains almost untouched. We live now in a world of political correctness that seems to find so much offence in everything and everyone and along the way have almost stripped stand-up comedy of its life force because they have never understood that so often it is not what someone says that it is important but how they say it and to whom they say it. Billy Connolly is a great example of this and so often with controversial humour he united people by making them look at their own selves.
Few people can say that they made a difference to this world by bringing laughter to millions of people, bringing people from many different divides together, touched many people’s lives directly and indirectly and still retained their own unique identity along the way. Billy Connolly can say all of these things and this show is simply a thank you from so many people to him for what he has brought to their lives in so many different ways.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com