National Theatre of Scotland announces touring production

The National Theatre of Scotland is to stage a new play described as a ‘love letter’ to Billy Connolly.

News of the show from playwright Gary McNair comes as the Big Yin celebrates his 80th birthday today.

Dear Billy will play theatres and community centres across Scotland next year, with a seat saved for the comedian at every show in case he wants to drop by.

Although the comedian now lives in Florida for the sake of his health, a picture of him ‘enjoying mince ‘n’ tatties by the fire' in a Loch Lomond pub' was posted on Twitter by a fan this week, days after it was taken.

The show has been put together from people’s stories about Connolly and  McNair plans to collect more while on the road, which he will weave into the production as it evolves.

McNair will be joined on stage by musician Simon Liddell to create what is described as as ‘a unique chance to laugh, sing, and celebrate the man and the legend’.

He told the BBC: ‘ It's a show about Billy Connolly, but it's about the people of Scotland as much as anything else.

‘Every time you speak to someone about Billy Connolly, straight away they talk about the time they met him, or they went to see him, or what he means to them.

‘They want to share it, and we've been lucky enough to collect all those stories and put them together into this show that culminates in finding out who Billy is. We think we know, but we find out who he is through the prism of us.’

The show will kick off at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in May and visit Kilmarnock,Ayr, Dundee, Banchory, East Kilbride, Hawick, Dumfries, Caithness, Strathpeffer, Nairn, St Andrews, Cumbernauld, Dunoon, and Perth before ending with a run at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. Tour dates.

Connolly announced his retirement from stand-up in 2018 because of his Parkinson’s diagnosis and later said: ‘It was lovely and it was lovely being good at it. It was the first thing I was ever good at.’

Published: 24 Nov 2022