The Ladykillers

This was Graham Linehan’s stage version of the 1955 comedy classic film made at Ealing studios. As in the original, comedy abounds, but there is a much stronger element of farce and even slapstick in this production, throughout which the jokes come thick and fast. The plot concerns a team of villains who intend to carry out a robbery in King’s Cross, London and in order to provide themselves with an operational base and somewhere to lie low after the commission of the offence, they rent a spare room in the house of dear, elderly Mrs Wilberforce (very convincingly played by Lisabeth Connor) and set up home there posing as musicians. The mastermind behind this criminal act is the sinister Professor Marcus (Hugh Butterworth).Other members of  this cadre of criminals include Major ( John Sheppard) an ex-military man with a penchant for nice dresses, “One Round” or Mr Lawson (Paul Meakin), a ‘a not so quick witted boxer’ better known for ‘throwing’ a fight than a punch. Harry Robinson (Stephen Marsland) a degenerate pill-popper, Louis Harvey (Nick Croft) who prefers to use a knife to sharpen people rather than pencils! After the robbery Mrs Wilberforce discovers that the lodgers are not really musicians but are criminals in possession of a large amount of money and she intends to report matters to the police; obviously this cannot be allowed to happen. Whilst none of this team of criminals were capable of killing this eccentric old lady, they all conspired to deliver a most farcical performance which brought about the demise of themselves and resulted in the friendly and helpful Police Constable MacDonald (courteously played by Lee Johnson) advising Mrs Wilberforce to keep the proceeds of the robbery and say nothing, thereby saving the police a considerable amount of work.

Presented on a well designed and constructed set with the players very appropriately costumed, and the production team delivering timely sound effects, this was great entertainment. Congratulations to Mary O’Neill, the Director, and her Assistant, Allison Allen for their wonderful interpretation.

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