Hall, Willis

Hall, Willis (1929–2005), English playwright, most of whose later plays have been written in collaboration with Keith Waterhouse (1929– ). The first of Hall's own plays to be staged, The Royal Astrologers (1958), was written for children, his first play for adults being the highly successful The Long and the Short and the Tall (1959; NY, 1962), a study of the diverse members of a patrol lost in 1942 in the Malayan jungle. After a double bill, Last Day in Dreamland and A Glimpse of the Sea (also 1959), both plays set in a seaside resort at the end of the season, Hall began his collaboration with Waterhouse, their first joint work—one of their most successful—being Billy Liar (1960; NY, 1963), based on Waterhouse's novel about a fantasizing North Country boy. It was followed by Chin-Chin (also 1960), based on a play by Billetdoux, and England, Our England (1962), a revue. More typical of their collaboration, however, were the comedy All Things Bright and Beautiful (1962) and the farce Say Who You Are (1965), seen in America in 1966 as Help Stamp Out Marriage. They then wrote the book for the musical The Card (1973), based on Arnold Bennett's novel, and had a big success at the National Theatre with Saturday, Sunday, Monday (also 1973), based on a play by Eduardo De Filippo, which in 1974 was transferred to the West End and seen in New York. In 1977 he again collaborated with Waterhouse in Filumena (NY, 1980), based on another play by De Filippo. His later stage work has been for children. Waterhouse also wrote the highly successful Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989).