Billionaire Boy Review The Hawth Theatre Crawley

Reviewed by Amanda Hayes

There can’t be a child, or adult, in the land that hasn’t heard of at least some of David Walliams of children’s books. Imaginatively illustrated by Tony Ross, they tell amusing fictional stories, with a moral, and Billionaire Boy is no different. Essentially a tale of how money cant buy everything, its also brings in lots of issues school children suffer with such as bullying and trying to fit in.

The book was written back in 2010 and has now become a popular stage show from the award-winning West End producers of Gangsta Granny and Horrible Histories. We watched it at The Hawth Theatre, Crawley, which has easy access from the M23 and lots of free parking, comfy seats & a well stocked bar.

We, my husband, nine year old son & I, arrived just in time for our 7pm performance where the lobby was full of hustle and bustle as normal, as people collected their tickets. The performance was being held in the main theatre and as we took our seats, I was surprised to see it wasn’t that busy. I had noted that the weekend and lunchtime performances were very busy, so I put that down to a 7pm start on a school night being quite late for many of the target audience which were mainly older primary school age.

The stage was set as a large house made of toilet rolls, Bumfresh Towers, as per the book, and from then on, the performance followed the story in its entirety apart from one gender change. The production follows Joe Spud, age 12, and his billionaire dad, Len who has made his money from inventing a new half dry, half wet, toilet roll. Sent to the most expensive school in the land, Joe is bullied and called names like bumboy as he wasn’t an Earl or a Duke. All he wants is a friend, and he finds one, Bob, when he asks to move to the local comprehensive school, and that’s how the story starts.

The performers sing & dance their way through the book, which surprised me at first as I wasn’t expecting a musical! All the amusing jokes in the book had been turned into humorous songs, which was a great way to show them off, we were all especially impressed by the way the teachers shouting lines like “Run not walk” & “You’re not just letting yourself down” were made into a musical routine.

In every David Walliams book is the character Raj, who owns the corner shop, and Billionaire Boy is no exception. We were looking forward to seeing him on stage as he is such a funny character in the books, with his out-of-date chocolate and dodgy bargains, and he didn’t disappoint. Joe, Len, & Bob were also excellent, with several of the actors making quick changes and paying several parts it was a fast paced show
with absolutely no let ups.

We all really enjoyed this performance immensely, perfectly suited to children with ages around 6-12 and with a running time of around 1 hour 50 mins including interval, it’s the perfect family trip out. My son did say he wished it had started earlier though as he was tired by the end and struggled to get up for school this morning.

With performances running until Saturday 14th May, with two shows per day on some dates, any David Walliams loving family should try and get tickets to see the stage show of Billionaire Boy.

Rating: out of 4.5/5. Tickets cost from £17.50 .

Billionaire Boy is at The Hawth Crawley from Wednesday 11th May until Saturday 14th May, for more information or to book tickets visit https://www.parkwoodtheatres.co.uk/The-Hawth or call the box office on 01293 553636 (Monday-Friday 10am-4pm)

The Hawth,Hawth Avenue, Crawley,RH10 6YZ