Character:

Billy

Playwright: 
Angus Machlachlan

Director: 
Jennie Darnell

Venue: 
Hampstead Theatre

Additional Cast:
Sid Mitchell, Nicola Walker

Status:
Completed play. Previews from 17 January 2002, opened 21 January 2002, closed 9 February 2002.

Photos

"A blazingly passionate and terrifyingly true tale of addiction"

By Charles Spencer/ The Telegraph


As Billy, the bear-like Brendan Coyle powerfully and poignantly captures a man who discovers the possibility of happiness and decency, only to find them buckling under the strain of the past...

Reviews

"The Dead Eye Boy"

By The Guardian


"I'm a rough, tough guy" says a character in Angus MacLachlan's award-winning American play...

Shirley-Diane met Billy and fell in love with him at their North Carolina Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Together the two of them are striving for a clean life, attempting to overcome rough youths, bouts with hard drugs and, for Billy, jail time and the marine corps. 


Soren, Shirley-Diane's teenage son, is the self-described Dead Eye Boy, having a left eye closed from birth.  Soren is a reflection of Billy's own painful childhood, and Billy, seeing a chance at redemption, reaches out to Soren.

The Dead Eye Boy (2002)

BRENDAN COYLE FANSITE