Billy Connolly show set to start touring next week
Dear Billy sets off from Kilmarnock on Tuesday
Rehearsals for a show capturing the life of actor Billy Connolly are drawing to a close as the cast prepares to start touring Scotland.
Dear Billy is an ode to the Scottish entertainment legend in the style of a collection of tales from the people he has worked with and met, alongside music from his career, to tell the story of what Connolly means to the country.
The show consists of writer and performer Gary McNair and musicians Simon Liddell and Jill O’Sullivan, but each performance will be slightly different as more stories are collected and can be tailored to each area.
Gary said it has been an honour to be part of the show, adding: “you get really into the tapes that you’re listening to of all the interviews and all the people who have given their time, and you realise what a special delight that is to deal with people’s contributions.
“They open up a very vulnerable space in themselves that’s just amazing, I could never write the stuff that they contribute, and you realise what a gift that is, so it’s very, very blessed, I’m very, very lucky.”
One of the ideas behind the show is that everyone has a Billy story, and there are so many out there to hear.
Gary goes on: “I think you could turn over a rock in Boise, Idaho and you would find somebody sitting outside to say ‘could you tell us about Billy Connolly’ and they’d say ‘oh the Big Yin? Aye, no bother, what do you want to know about him?’
“He’s just one of those people that takes up a place in your heart.”
The show is being directed by Joe Douglas, who has worked with Gary on projects before.
He agreed that everyone has a tale of Billy to tell, saying: “as soon as Billy Connolly’s name is mentioned, it just lights people up, and bing able to capture those thoughts, and the surprising ways he’s meant to people and got involved in their lives, it’s been great to capture that and then try to craft a night out based on it.”
The tour kicks off in Kilmarnock on Tuesday May 16.