Rave reviews for play in London

February 1988

Wexford playwright Billy Roche was given an open-armed welcome by the London theatre world when his play ‘ The Boker Poker Club’ started a month-long run in Shepherd’s Bush this week.

Rave reviews appeared in several English newspapers and Wexford’s son was being hailed as an up and coming writer to watch.

The Bush Theatre was packed to capacity for opening night on Monday, with the audience including bestselling author Maeve Binchy, Billy’s parents May and Pierce, his wife Patty and daughter Valerie, and the Mayor of Wexford, Ald. Dominic Kiernan.

Ald. Kiernan later commented that the play, re-named ‘A Handful of Stars’ for its London run, was ‘ the most moving experience I have ever had in a theatre’.

The Wexford musician-turned-writer had a bit of a baptism of fire, though. When Dublin actor David Duffy, who plays ‘Stapler’ in the show, fell ill after the opening performance, Billy had to step into the breach himself and take the role the following night, before a replacement could be found.

‘Sure it adds to the excitement!’ he said by phone from London this week.

With the applause still ringing in his ears, he announced himself ‘delighted’ with how things are going so far. ‘It was particularly great to see so many Wexford people there on opening night,’ he said. ‘A lot of people came over specially for it, while a number of Wexford people who live in London came to see it too.’

He told too how the Wexford accents on stage presented only ‘minor’ problems for the London audience. ‘Most of them were tuned into it after only three or four minutes...hun,’ he said.