BILLY: TWIRLING THROUGH TIME
Pleasance Theatre
★★★½
“rich in warmth, generosity and laughter”
The stage is intimate, collapsing the divide between backstage and performance space. A wardrobe room overflows with clothes, wigs, shoes and Babycham, instantly transporting us to the 1980s through its colourful, nostalgic design. This is a space that invites us behind the curtain, where transformation is constant and visible.
Each night, a different guest artist opens the performance of Billy: Twirling Through Time. On opening night, Simone French introduces us to Tom Marshman and Ryan O’Shea, the creators and performers of the show. What follows is a warm, inventive exploration of dance, queer friendship and memory, reimagining Billy Elliot through a deeply personal lens.
Marshman and O’Shea guide us through how the idea for the show emerged from their shared love of performance and their relationship to the film. A key realisation grounds the work emotionally: Marshman is now the same age Billy Elliot would be today. This temporal overlap becomes the heart of the piece, allowing the past and present to dance alongside one another.
The show blends reimagined scenes from the film with song, lip-sync, dance, and playful theatrical invention. A boxing ring and a ballet class appear through imaginative staging, often involving the audience. There are constant costume changes, multi-rolling, and joyful, hilariously executed duet dances. Marshman primarily embodies Billy, while O’Shea takes on Mrs Wilkinson, alongside managing much of the onstage technical work. Both performers slip fluidly between roles, weaving in their own autobiographical stories.
Scenes from their personal lives are interlaced throughout, drawing on childhood dreams, relationships with queerness, motherhood, and their enduring friendship. These parallels between their lived experiences and the narrative of Billy Elliot are heartfelt and moving. Beneath the humour lies a thoughtful reflection on childhood ambition, the bonds formed through dance and art, and the intimacy of queer friendship.
The show is rich in warmth, generosity and laughter. Marshman and O’Shea’s connection is its emotional anchor, shining through even in moments of chaos. At times, the ambitious number of scene and costume changes creates a sense of improvisation that could benefit from further polish. However, this rawness also lends the performance a certain charm, reinforcing its handmade, personal quality.
The pacing occasionally slows due to extended narration between scenes, seemingly to accommodate technical and lighting changes. While this sometimes disrupts the flow, the storytelling would benefit from allowing more moments to unfold through movement and performance rather than explanation. Some technical transitions are slightly distracting, but they never overshadow the heart of the work.
Billy: Twirling Through Time offers many moments of genuine beauty, particularly when the storytelling is carried by movement, music and the visible trust between its performers. The joy lies as much in the precision as in the mess – wigs fall askew, quick changes misfire, and theatrical illusions wobble just enough to remind us we are witnessing something live, human and generous. Billy continues to twirl through time, still alive in the dreams of the 11-year-old who dared to dance. Sharing that dream with the audience feels like the show’s greatest achievement.
BILLY: TWIRLING THROUGH TIME
Pleasance Theatre
Reviewed on 16th December 2025
by Nasia Ntalla
Photography by Charley Williams
