Billy Elliot

Act One

It is 1984 and the miner’s strike has just begun in the northeast of England. In a small village, the miners and their families are gathered together discussing the strike (“The Stars Look Down”). Later, eleven-year-old Billy Elliot finishes his boxing class in the community center but is required to stay behind to pass the keys on to the ballet teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson, who has the next class. Before he leaves, he is intrigued by the dancing and ends up joining in with a routine (“Shine”). Mrs. Wilkinson tells him to come back next week, and Billy agrees. He starts to go regularly, using his 50p boxing class money to pay for his new dance class. Back home, nobody knows of his new hobby, except his Grandma. Grandma is old and eccentric, and Billy worries about her memory. One day, after his dance class, she begins to reminisce about her marriage and reveals that Billy’s Grandad was a drunken, abusive husband. However, when they went dancing, Grandma forgot their issues and