In the opening, the play script and the film are quite different. In the play script Florence is talking to herself in the beginning about her appointment with Dr. Blakemore. Alice goes upstairs to call Billy and tell him to get ready. This happens in the film but, in the film they show Billy’s bedroom and they also show his fantasy scene whereas in the play script it only tells us that Billy’s mother is calling him down to get ready. Alice and Florence are talking about Dr. Blakemore and then Geoffrey joins in. In the film and in the play, Geoffrey asks Billy if he has sent Alice’s letter to the radio station but in the film this scene comes much earlier than in the play script.
“What’s up- you know what’s up? What have you done with that letter of your mother’s?” says Geoffrey
“What. What, what! Don’t keep saying bloody ‘what’. You know what letter. That she gave you to post to ‘Housewives’ Choice’ says Billy
The two different openings would affect the audience in different ways. When the play is done on stage then it might be uneventful due to the fact that there will less action with more dialogue. In the film it will be different. It will be much more interesting because there will special effects and imagery in use, with more action and less dialogue.
The dialogue is one of the most important things in the play. In the play script the dialogue is very important because there is very little action whereas in the film there is dialogue and action. If there was no dialogue in the play script then the characters would be doing nothing but sitting in the lounge. In the film there are a lot of scenes, which is why the characters talk less. The reason for this is because in the film special effects are used which makes it easier for the audience to understand. In the play script, some characters explain scenes, which we never saw instead the audience were informed that this happened when Rita was telling Billy that she heard that Billy was with another girl in his house. In the film the audience watches this scene,
“Well, you didn’t then- because somebody saw you. Sitting in the Gaumont. With your arm round a lass eating oranges”
The setting in the play script and in the film is quite different. In the play script the set consists of a living room, hallway and a section of the garden of Geoffrey Fisher’s house. To the left of the stage in a small garden containing a small garden seat. There is a door in the living room leading to the kitchen. The living room is over dressed. In the film the audience is shown the train station and Billy’s workplace, the town centre, the cafe and also Billy’s bedroom. All the places that are seen in the film are described in the book.
The focus is mainly on Billy’s lies, his fantasies, and relationships with his girlfriends and with his family.
Billy is lonely and discontented with life. He does not have many friends and is always having fantasies of being real high class and living a luxurious life. The play script describes Billy in a different way compared to the film. In the book he sounds much more of a disobedient child but in the film he is much softer.
The fantasy scenes are much more descriptive in the film than in the play script. He has more fantasy scenes in the film than in the play script. In the film they show a fantasy scene whereas in the play script the first fantasy scene comes after a while
The main characters in the play script and in the film are, Liz, Alice, Barbara, Geoffrey, Rita, Arthur, and Florence. There are additional characters in the film. The problem with this is that because there are more characters in the film the focus spreads out between every one in the play. In the play script most of the focus is on Billy’s family and his girlfriends whereas in the film they show every character in a bit of detail. All the characters beside Liz don’t understand Billy. Liz, on the other hand understands that Billy is going through a rough time and she takes it well whereas the others get very angry him for doing bad things.
The endings in the play script and in the film are a few differences and similarities. In the play script Billy goes to London with Liz then in the end he comes back to his family. Florence dies in the end. In the film, Billy goes to the train station with Liz and they get on the train. But when they are on the train he realises that he shouldn’t go. He tries every excuse to get of the train, he doesn’t want to tell Liz directly that he wants to get off the train and not go to London. He tells her that he will get some milk and then intestinally misses it. The on the way back home he has another fantasy. In the film Billy’s grandmother dies in the same time that he dies in the play script.
The film style is a bit different to the play style because in the play it is much more relaxed and slow whereas in the film, the characters are much more active and have more parts to play. In the play script there is much more detail because the audience would need to know what the characters look like and what the setting is whereas in the film the audience could see it and could understand it easily. The play script is slightly much more humorous as there is a lot of description.
The film version of Billy Liar is slightly different compared to the play script version of it. The differences include the dialogue, the opening the description of Billy and the focus. The focus is mainly on Billy in the play script whereas in the film it is on his family and his girlfriends. The play portrays the life in the early 1960’s where older people used to look down upon teenagers as is it is in the play where Billy’s parents and grandmother look down upon him.
