Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim

Reviews & features

2012 Edinburgh Festival of Politics highlights

11 Jul 2012

Talks on George Wyllie, the music industry, Canongate and Scotland's wood cabins

Singin’ I’m No a Billy, He’s a Tim. The difficulties of overcoming ignorance associated with the issue of sectarianism in Scotland were perfectly highlighted last season when one football radio pundit accused Des Dillon’s play of actually promoting…

Five things you might not know about: Des Dillon

24 Jun 2010

1 Des Dillon is the joint second oldest (he has a twin sister) of a family of nine kids, having been born in Bellshill in 1960 before moving to Coatbridge. Although he has been writing for as long as he can remember – penning poems at primary school…

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4. I'm no a billy he's a tim – 6 May 2009, 1:49pm Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim Report

I am pleased to have been part of this audience as we had such a fabulous night. The show was just great and the six of us will certainly have no hesitation of recommending to our family and friends. Workmates also came along to the show on other nights and also enjoyed it thouroughly. I'm so glad I mentioned it to them otherwise they would not have experienced such a good laugh.

5. Joyce – 9 Jun 2009, 1:58pm Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim Report

Glad to see your feed back on the show. Great to see you enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.
Hopefully we are going to see a DVD of this show in the next few months

6. Joyce – 23 Aug 2011, 8:27am Report

Dvd of Nlp Theatres Live performance is now on sale...check out www.nlptheatre.co.uk for more info...thanks

7. Richard Purdon - Irish News – 24 Oct 2012, 1:57pm Singin' I'm No a Billy He's a Tim Report

By Richard PurdenTwo hate-filled Old Firm fans are put into a prison cell on the day their teams meet on the park. Under the microscope Dillon plays out all their fears, paranoia, misconceptions and the hatred that has shaped their lives.One of the major delusions he deals with early on is when Rangers fan Billy announces: “We took you in.”You can see the audience wincing in their seat at the tangible ignorance. But most importantly Dillon’s play suggests the bigotry unites both sets of fans.“It’s boring without an enemy,” Tim admits.Dillon doesn’t take one side, here the Celtic fan is embittered, and he holds onto the mistakes of the past and is stunted by them. At the same time there is no line as hate-filled as “Up to our knees in Fenian blood.”Tim points out if this line was sung at any football match and you replaced Fenian with Paki or any other racial type there would be uproar — but not in Scotland. The nature of the two supporters is also revealing. A Celtic fan will insult you with a slap on the back, a smile on his face and with the wink of an eye but the Rangers fan may say the same line and sound stoic, bitter and twisted.How each supporter feels about his national identity is shaped by the other. The Rangers fan is one of the last bastions of a British identity without understanding what that means.Both sets of these supporters lose their Scottish identity because their understanding of Scotland is shaped by their adversary. Even if it’s just for a moment at the end of the play they both begin to realise their intolerance of each other has made them social lepers