Bill Maxted’s Most Excellent Adventure
by Angela Truby
Bill is stuck in 1972 – until Maggie gets hold of him. Hang on! It could be a bumpy ride!
Soon after Bill’s retirement, his wife has had all she can take. She abandons him to his vast vinyl collection and his refusal to move on from 1972. Where did he go wrong? Then he meets Maggie, a force of nature with a taste for adventure and Bill as her pet project.
Can Maggie teach Bill how to live and persuade him that pasta is not foreign food? And will Bill share with Maggie the one secret he’s held for 40 years?
Set to a backing track of Bill’s favourite music with a colourful cast of characters, Bill Maxted’s Most Excellent Adventure will make you laugh, make you cry and most of all make you wish you still had that special edition copy of Rubber Soul with the extra track on side 2.
Bill Maxted had its première at Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre on 21st April 2005, with further Spring performances in Youlgreave, Leicester and Chesterfield. A highly successful tour of venues in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Lincolnshire followed in the Autumn.
What the Huddersfield Examiner had to say about the production:
“Sheer sparkle… A delightful piece of original theatre, awash with charm and warmth… A hugely enjoyable production with an abundance of laughs… engrossing performances… deserved every clap and cheer for its terrific script and eminently likeable characters… ”
For full review see here
And the Leicester Mercury:
“Superbly written, the witty script moves pacily through interchangeable sets, guaranteeing laughs galore… A clever moving finale… Full marks to the Yellow Leaf Theatre Company for a lively, satisfying production.”
For full review see here
And the Derbyshire Times:
“The attractions of opposites… strike a chord with spectators as well as strengthening this Derbyshire writer’s flourishing reputation. The two main players… really summed up the strength and fragility of human relationships.”
For full review see here
And the Holderness Gazette:
“The play is a delight with its well-crafted script giving plenty of depth to the two main characters with the added attraction of Bill’s music, leaving the audience with plenty of their own memories.”
For audience feedback on ‘Bill Maxted’ see here
What the Derbyshire Times said about Angela Truby’s last play, Angels Never Leave Heaven:
“A drama that’s heaven-sent… a world re-created in affectionate detail… the audience loved every minute.”
The cast included Vanya Green, Chris Wilkinson, Jeanne Golding and Francesca Larkin.