Diary of a Somebody

Product Information

Achingly funny. Without doubt it should win next year's Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for the best comic novel, even if my own novel is in contention as well -- Jonathan Coe Set almost exclusively in the room shared by the two men, the design centred around the partners’ shared single bed. Designed by Valentine Gigandet, the set, though clearly on a tight budget, worked well against the whirlwind of action, with faux classical statues staring blankly at the audience. The walls were covered with Halliwell’s decadent and unprosperous collages, being at once contemporary and a little creepy. If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston' - Richard Osman, author of The Thursday Murder Club

Taken verbatim from Joe Orton's private and often explicit diaries, this raucous and poignant new production is directed by Nico Rao Pimparé (The Start of Nothing, 2020; Rainer, Arcola Theatre; Candy, King's Head Theatre). The cast is completed by Jemma Churchill (Doctor Who, BBC; Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, New Vic Theatre; NATIVITY! The Musical, UK tour), Jamie Zubairi (Cucumber, Why The Lion Danced, Yellow Earth; The Letter; Wyndham's Theatre), Sorcha Kennedy (Rainer; Arcola Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Comedy of Errors - Sam Wanamaker Festival; Shakespeare's Globe) and Ryan Rajan Mal, making his stage debut. Our eponymous hero, Brian Bilston, starts the year with the intention of writing a poem a day. Whilst that goes by the wayside some days, we are still treated to many poems of the very clever and mostly rhyming variety that I love. The poems form the first part of the entries in Brian's diary over the course of a year of numerous ups and downs for him.One of the funniest novels in years . . . It also has genuine heart - and scores of poems so witty and accomplished that, in the real world, their author would surely be as famous as, well . . . I predict that Brian Bilston will soon be * Reader's Digest * If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston -- Richard Osman

Imagine a mash-up of John Cooper Clarke, Ed Reardon’s Week and James Joyce, and you’re about halfway there. This fun, charming novel is a fine showcase for Bilston's irrepressible creativity . . . It's all done with wit, playfulness and a sense of amused wonder at the possibilities and idiosyncrasies of the English language, with the occasional groanworthy pun seeming like a price well worth paying. -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *Brian's resolution is to write a poem every day; poetry will be his salvation. But there is an obstacle to his happiness in the form of Toby Salt, his arch nemesis in the Poetry Group and rival suitor to Liz, Brian’s new poetic inspiration. When Toby goes missing, Brian is the number one suspect. Taken verbatim from Joe Orton's private and often explicit diaries, this raucous and poignant new production is directed by Nico Rao Pimparé ( The Start of Nothing, 2020; Rainer, Arcola Theatre; Candy, King’s Head Theatre). The cast is completed by Jemma Churchill ( Doctor Who, BBC; Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present, NewVic Theatre; NATIVITY! The Musical, UK tour), Jamie Zubairi ( Cucumber, Why The Lion Danced, Yellow Earth; The Letter; Wyndham'sTheatre), Sorcha Kennedy ( Rainer; Arcola Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Comedy of Errors; Petersfield Festival, Sam Wanamaker Festival; Shakespeare's Globe) and Ryan Rajan Mal, making his stage debut. The first is that my 148 diaries represent only about one eighth of the total number of volumes Laura wrote. It turns out that I don’t have a single complete year after 1962, and that almost all the 70s, the second half of both the 60s and 80s, and most of the 90s are missing. Estimating from the gaps in my collection, the correct total number of books is closer to 1,000, or 40m words. Laura was the most prolific diarist in known history.

I have long envied artists who draw and sketch each day; who are able to transform ordinary visual experience into art – I imagine it to be a joy. Perhaps the diaries had belonged to a Trinity don, I thought, and got depressed. I slid the boxes down the corridor to my study and shoved them under a table. I think it was because they looked so interesting that I didn’t want to read them. I was deep at work on a biography and didn’t have time to get interested in anything new.Laura and I are now friends. She has read the biography I have written of her life twice, and approved it all.

Flora would listen patiently, wait a few more months, then make her point again: had I read all the diaries? No. Had I read above a third of them? No. So, I hadn’t studied them properly. Unless I arranged the books chronologically, I couldn’t know how everything tied together, and therefore could not make a proper study of the contents. So many of my unconscious assumptions about Laura had been false. How many others were? You probably get the picture that Brian makes a few mistakes during the course of the book, but it's impossible to do anything but like him.Orton remains a compelling central character, George Kemp capturing his chutzpah, his humour, his confidence that never grew to curdle into arrogance. Orton, with the eye of a triple outsider (gay, working class and provincial) saw the absurdity in a London that wasn't quite swinging and skewered it. How on earth am I supposed to review this book? It's part fiction, part poetry, part diary. The sum of the parts though is, in my opinion, a work of genius.