The Ladykillers is a classic 1955 Ealing comedy about a gang of criminal misfits who, in order to pull off a brilliantly conceived heist, pose as amateur musicians and take rooms in the lopsided lodgings of the sweet, eccentric Miss Wilberforce. Read more …
The police suspect nothing, but Miss Wilberforce (aided by her parrot, General Gordon), turns out to be not so easily duped. So the gang`s criminal mastermind, the disturbed (and disturbing) Professor Marcus, decides that Miss Wilberforce must be silenced. For good . . . This brand new adaptation of the Ealing classic, written by Graham Linehan, the BAFTA and Emmy-award winning television comedy writer and director (co-creator and writer of Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd) had the critics and audiences in raptures during its recent smash-hit West End run.
It's easy to see beyond the polite facade towards something messier and more complex.
The physical business of comedy is a fine thing, but it should arise naturally from the script, rather than being grafted on with a visible effort that actually disrupts the rhythm of the play, and tends to stifle laughter at birth.
If the play is lacking, director Richard Baron’s production is not.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Pitlochry from Thursday October 23, 2014, until Saturday November 15, 2014. More info: www.pitlochry.org.uk
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