In praise of... Pirate Bill

[Sam]

I think Pirate Bill gets far too much stick. Critics often see his act as out-dated, a left-over has-been from the days when Alton's entertainment offering was a lot more amateur. I too initially joined in the mockery, seeing the little magic show as a laughably quaint relic in the grandeur of the resort.

But having actually stopped to watch his show for 10 minutes, I don't think that's fair. More than any other show in the resort, he captures the attention of children. Everytime you see him on stage, there's always a dozen or so youngsters sat on the floor, listening intently.

Does he achieve this through loud pop parodies, special effects or a spectacular set? No. It's just an experienced entertainer, on his own, with some basic magic tricks. The pirate show can only dream of getting the attentive audience that Bill does, on probably a tenth of the budget.

While it's easy for enthusiasts to mock, children seem to be entranced by his simple show. Although I initially thought it was a bit weird, his quite old-fashioned sense of discipline during a show (making sure the children sit quietly throughout) genuinely seems to work. This must be a relief for the nearby parents, enjoying a quiet drink from Dragon Bar.

It is what it is. A middle-aged man doing magic tricks. Yet night after night, his audience never seems to wane and the show never changes. He doesn't try to be hip or clever or ironic, or embarrassingly appeal to adults at the same time. So lets hear it for Pirate Bill, a stalwart of old-fashioned childrens' entertainment that has become an increasingly rare sight at the resort.

He is also, I believe, the only ATR staff member to be given the honour of having his character name on his name-badge.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

Kids seem to love him, and I think that's what's most important.

When I saw him at he end of TST Sandwich meet, I didn't think he was too bad. Yes, a little cringe-worthy for us adults, but if I was little I know I'd have really enjoyed his act.

 

[evilcod]

I can not help but think that the reason he has a big audience is because the kids have nothing better to do in the hotel. The pirate show has to compete with some of the uks top attractions.... Pirate Bill has to compete with a comfy chair. I really don't think it can be put down to the quality of pirate bill more the lack of things to do in the hotel. Install a decent soft play in ATH and pirate bill would be sailing alone.

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[Rose Of Dawn]

I doubt it. Kids love shows, even something simplistic. If the kids had a play area, they'd still sit down and watch someone entertaining them.

 

[Jables]

Never seen him myself, but I like his style


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[Harv]

I doubt it. Kids love shows, even something simplistic. If the kids had a play area, they'd still sit down and watch someone entertaining them.

Aha, but that's where I believe that you're wrong; as Sam says, this has a much smaller budget than the park pirate show yet still consistently gains a larger audience.

 

[Rose Of Dawn]

I doubt it. Kids love shows, even something simplistic. If the kids had a play area, they'd still sit down and watch someone entertaining them.

Aha, but that's where I believe that you're wrong; as Sam says, this has a much smaller budget than the park pirate show yet still consistently gains a larger audience.

I don't understand what that has to do with what I said.

I said kids enjoy Pirate Bill and would watch him even if there was a play area. What you've said - that Pirate Bill gets a large audience despite the park pirate show - doesn't really have anything to do with what I've said, so I fail to see how I'm 'wrong'.

 

[thefatone]

They would watch him - put on any sort of entertainment in the evening, and make sure the times are known, and people are bound to make the kids go and watch it.

 

[cybermen39]

I think he has always entertained well but to say Entertainment was more amateur back then is complete rubbish the entertainment back then were top payed entertainers that played out top made shows from entertainment staff that worked for TV and top London Shows FACT look it up they even produced the London Palladium shows FACT.
Todays entertainers at Alton are amateurs and not top payed singers and actors like back in the 90's they even used to weighed each week and if they put on weight they would be out.
I worked there then and believe me only the best would do. The old entertainment Manager now runs the Birmingham Hippodrome that's how good they were. Don't get wrong they do a good job but its not near on par with the old entertainment.

 

[James]

I concur with cybermen39. When compared to the 90s and early 00s, the singers have really decreased in quality. I'm by no means slating the current singers, they can sing (to a certain extent), but their vocals have become nothing more than glorified karaoke (excluding David Kettle - although he has been around since the old days).

I don't think anyone can slate Pirate Bill. He's very professional, just a bit 'old fashioned' in terms of approach to entertainment. You could even say he's cheesy (which I suppose he is since times have changed). But the engagement he has with children even now just goes to show that sometimes sticking to an old formula can still work as magically as it did over a decade ago.

I still think on the whole though entertainment in the hotels needs looking at. They only need to dig into the 90s archives to see what can be achieved in a small area. They need better singers, more for the kids (children's groups, treasure hunts, face painting, balloon making - look at the old Magic Makers group), more for the adults (look at how well Dickie Hart and Tanya Hyde worked - the resort needs characters like that back!) and packed evenings. I find it shocking that in 2003 and before you would have an evening of variety shows and entertainment with no gaps (or little gaps) in-between - now you have Pirate Bill, break for an hour, singers for 30 minutes, a 45 minute break, singers for 30 minutes, end. Hardly a jam packed evening. Mix that in with a waterpark that closes stupidly early the 'resort' tag becomes quite a joke.

The only thing which I can commend Alton for doing the past few years is bringing in A Band on a Ship (sp?). They do add quite a bit of life into the ATH.

 

[cybermen39]

This thread makes me so ---- angry to think people think that the actors on park today are professional one of the older actors in the priate used to be a litter picker that's how ---- professional they are. I know i'm going on but even back in the day the Parade characters were fully professional dancers to the point were one tried to sue Alton claiming she could not see though the Kia Ora Crows costume (she lost the case of course) and the above quote is 100% correct the singers are no more than karoke singers david excluded in fact when david joined Alton Towers in 1997 in the Piazza show it was the last year they had only professional singers and actors on park. From then on apart from the ice show the entertainment faded.

 

[thefatone]

I imagine the downgrade was due to the fact they heavily reduced their ents budget and how much they pay the staff - they don't pay anywhere near the amount to afford a decent singer or professional actor nowadays.

 

[AstroDan]

Parks like Portaventura, Phantasialand and Europa attract artists from all over the world.

Alton is very low wage amateurs mostly.



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[Dave]

Non of Towers actors are amateurs, they are all employed from drama backgrounds.

They all do a great job too, it's the one department that's on the up, I think calling them amateurs is a) inaccurate and b) degrading.

It's not like there is some sort of actors licence, you get paid to act = professional actor. Some of the Towers lot put the cast of the truly abysmal Waterloo at EP to shame.

 

[cybermen39]

That's not true R-- B------ was a litter picker and to be honest if you think they do a good job you need to get out more to shows I mean. I don't know a lot about the metal and such rollercoasters are made of so I don't go to those posts but to think those shows are even ok is well its not worth going there. I'm leaving it here but seriously?

 

[Dave]

I get out to plenty of shows.

In comparison to many other theme park shows including the acting at parks like Europa it is on par or better, Singing at hotels is less impressive.

The scope of Alton Towers entertainment budget is very limited compared to other parks I agree but I have no issue with quality of the actors, seen worse actors in TV, film and the stage who get paid a lot more for the work they do (Nicholas Cage gets employed and he is terrible) and R-- B------ May have been a litter picker but he is damn good at the characters he plays... How many actors started have worked in mcdonalds!

 

[cybermen39]

Hes been there since 1990

 

[Dave]

Hes been there since 1990

How is that relevant?

He does the job he is paid to do and does it well. And we don't really want to start ripping apart individuals publicly on here. Obviously the quality of acting is a personal opinion but we need to keep things to the department as a whole.

I think the acting is fine (though there have been exceptions over the years) I think ents do a good job with the budget they get, I think the budget they get shackles them to uninspired formats that are limited in the extreme.

It's not the RSA though, and I accept people will differ on opinion.

 

[James]

Certainly when compared to resort parks around the world Alton does lack artists/actors/performers of an exceptional quality. But then Alton Towers lacks the big production show/arena it has needed since they got rid of the ice shows! So the demand for artists with such talents is not currently needed. All they have right now are flamboyant characters that the actors can easily portray.

On the whole the actors aren't that bad at Alton. There are some gems although there are also a few weaker actors there. In a way though, they are quite amateur, maybe not in the full definition of the word though. I've seen better acting. I've seen worse acting. Alton Towers just falls in the middle.

 

[djtruefitt]

He is also, I believe, the only ATR staff member to be given the honour of having his character name on his name-badge.

The park keepers have character name badges, one of them is called Sparky!