The Ladykillers

Synopsis

The celebrated Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers, comes to life on stage this Autumn in a hilarious and thrilling new adaption by Graham Linehan, directed by Sean Foley at the Gielgud Theatre.

The Ladykillers tells the story of the eccentric little old lady Mrs Wilberforce who lives alone with her parrots in a strange lopsided house in King’s Cross. Her life is turned upside down by the arrival of Professor Marcus and his four friends, who between them make up the most unlikely group of criminals. Planning the heist of a security van, they decide to use Mrs Wilberforce as cover and involve her unwittingly in the plot. Things do not go well and the Professor’s plan starts to unravel in spectacular and hilarious fashion.

The stellar cast for The Ladykillers includes James Fleet who recently appeared in The Heretic at the Royal Court; the BAFTA-winning star of The Thick of It  Peter Capaldi,  Ben Miller, best known as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller; Clive Rowe, whose West End credits include Guys and Dolls and The Fantasticks  and Stephen Wight who won the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his appearance in Don Juan in Soho at the Donmar Warehouse.

The role of Mrs Wilberforce is played by two-time Olivier Award-winning actress Marcia Warren.

The Ladykillers writer Graham Linehan's television credits include comedy series Father Ted and The IT Crowd. He co-wrote the first season of Black Books with Dylan Moran and, collaborating with Arthur Mathews, has written material for Harry Enfield, Alexei Sayle, The Fast Show and Steve Coogan.

Director Sean Foley's West End credits include Do You Come Here Often, Play What I Wrote, Ducktastic, Pinter’s People and Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress.

Book your Ladykillers tickets today to catch this classic black comedy.

Our Review:

8 December 2011

A heist movie that trips into farce, The Ladykillers is a patchwork narrative. Originally a 1955 Ealing comedy starring Alec Guinness, it flicks between genres, so that what starts out noirish, ends up nutty.

Graham Linehan’s ticklish stage adaptation succeeds because it honours that, spicing up old-fashioned goofing with a contemporary knowingness. It is both homage and histrionics.

What the original’s flitting prevents, however, is the escalating intoxication of truly great farce, which needs to build in pressurised chaos until it whistles like a kettle. The Ladykillers hasn’t the frenetic overlap for that, but its fitful routines are packed with classic slapstick and fine-tuned asides. The result is a caper that delights, even if it can’t disarm.

Led by Peter Capaldi’s lithe Professor Marcus, a ragbag gang of five old-school crooks plot a robbery while operating out of an old widower’s...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 2 February 2012:

The Ladykillers is yet another screen to stage transfer and the latest in an increasing line of shows to feature special effects and illusions - in fact Michael Taylor's ingenious set designs received the warmest applause. Although the body count is higher in Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Ladykillers is probably the darkest of the Ealing comedies but Sean Foley has chosen to present it as a slapstick farce. It's sometimes rather irritating and repetitive, frequently very amusing but never any more than that. The producers have assembled a cast of superb comic performers and there are especially good perfroamnces from Marcia Warren as her trademark dotty old lady and Clive Rowe as a dim-witted former boxer and the only member of the gang with a hint of a conscience. Peter Capaldi is suitably sinister as the evil Marcus despite having to cope with the all too visible effects of a shocking cold. The Ladykillers provides an amiable and enjoyable couple of hours but not the comic bliss available elsewhere in the West End at the moment....

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