The Ladykillers

 

The Ladykillers’ by Graham Lineham

Maldon Drama Group 15th Oct 2021

Maldon Town Hall

Directed by Helen Rasmussen

 

This is my first review for NODA since the pandemic hit so I was really looking forward to seeing this show.  What a treat to be with the incredibly friendly and welcoming Maldon Drama Group.  Their front of house team, run by Linda Adair, always make sure that everyone that comes through their doors is made to feel that they are part of something special.

Choosing ‘The Ladykillers’ was a great choice as the full house showed,  the audience was really ready to enjoy the show and all went out with smiles on their faces, which is surely what we all want with our productions, especially after such an awful time for us all.

Written by Graham Lineham (of “Father Ted” fame), and based on the 1955 Ealing Comedy, this updated play version written in 2011 features a gang of armed robbers who pose as musicians.  They entice a sweet, slightly batty old lady, Mrs Wilberforce, living in a house by Kings Cross railway station, into their plot to steal a large sum of money. Planning the heist with constant interruptions by Mrs Wilberforce, who is innocently involved, they soon turn on each other, leaving the old lady with the proceeds of the crime.

Carey Brown as Mrs Wilberforce embodied the character very well.  Her walk and stance, especially when she went up and down the stairs was terrific.  Her eccentricity and mutterings to her parrot gave us the perfect dotty, lonely old lady.  This was a good performance by Carey who never fails to deliver as an actress.

Professor Marcus, played with superb skill by Neil Fisher, was also a great choice for the pivotal role of the mastermind of the gang.  His height and stage presence made sure you watched him totally whenever he spoke.  A wonderful long scarf, which would have bothered most actors, seemed to become part of him as he never once seemed to worry when it draped on the ground.

Major Courtney acted by Scott Peters was a joy, especially when he found Mrs Wilberforce’s best dress and danced around with it.  Nervous and twitchy he kept his upper class accent throughout.

Young Connor Smith as Harry Robinson gave us a smiling cheerful Londoner in a bright green Teddy boy jacket and hairstyle portraying both the arrogance and innocence of youth. Constantly cleaning the house he gave us a bright fun performance with clear projection so I was able to hear every word. Hopefully I will see more of him in future shows as I think he will grow in experience as the time goes on. Well done.

One Round (Chris Pond) didn’t have so much in the way of dialogue and I felt sometimes needed a bit more direction but his lines of ‘I’m Mister Lawson’ and ‘Is anyone back from the robbery’ were very funny

Ghislaine Davis was blind cast as Louis Harvey, the Romanian gangster, who has a dislike of old ladies. She gave us a cold hard character who would be quite happy to kill at any moment.  Due to the accent it was sometimes hard to hear the clarity of her speeches but her characterisation of the role was super.

The gaggle of lovely, elderly ladies who were Mrs Wilberforce’s guests, (Heather Lucas, Gill Peregrine, Karen Smith and Martin Adams) were wonderfully over the top and brought a lot of humour to the proceedings. Heather also played Constable Macdonald; I would like to see this actress in a larger role as I feel she has lots to offer the group.  Clear projection, a lovely smile, she has huge potential and was very comfortable on the stage.

Lighting was well thought out, in particular with the train going past every so often.  Clever use was made of the LED par can for the steam train scene, when Professor Marcus met his fateful end. Sounds were well chosen but the use of stage level mikes at the front of the stage did create some issues, in particular with actor’s voices increasing, decreasing, depending on whether they were upstage or down.  As these actors are all seasoned performers, I wonder if by doing away with the mikes, using actor projection alone or even wireless mikes, it might make it easier for everyone?

The set was split into three sections with rickety staircase to the bedroom. Paintings and props were skewwhiff with one painting falling each time the Professor tried to straighten it! Great props including a lovely old black and white TV were provided to give a downtrodden, worn appearance.  The stain glass window at the rear was backlit so you could see the suitably sinister entrance of the Professor but unfortunately you could also see the rest of the cast waiting to come on. The costumes were super, as was Mrs Wilberforce’s wig. 

It was truly lovely to come back to see Maldon Drama Group’s first show after such a long period of time. Having just directed a show myself, and knowing the difficulties and constraints that were set by Government guidelines due to Covid, I am full of admiration for Helen Rasmussen as director for putting on such an intricate production. This was an amusing, entertaining and nostalgic production. Well done to all the cast and crew.

Christine Davidson.

NODA East -  District Eight.

 

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