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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Masterminding the laugh
The Ladykillers
Hall Green Little Theatre
***** THE first hurdle for any company
contemplating the stage version of this much loved Ealing comedy is the
necessarily elaborate set and Hall Green have cleared that particular
obstacle with ease. It is the first thing you see and designed by director Edward James Stokes it is worthy of a round of applause on its own from its wonderful front cloth to the lopsided, subsidence-plagued home of Mrs Wilberforce with her rickety stairs and conspiratorial bedroom, over the Kings Cross rail tracks. There is even an instant rooftop scene –
the whole thing is a real credit to the painting and construction team. The next test is finding a cast to carry off a
comedy which sported Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Cecil Parker and Alex
Guinness in the original 1955 film, and with that particular box ticked
as well, you can sit relax, sit back and enjoy yourself. The appeal of the film, and the subsequent stage
play, is seeing how a sweet, slightly dotty, old widow, with a habit of
caring meddling, outwits a gang of criminal masterminds, or to be more
accurate, a collection of outlaw bumbling misfits. Set in the early 1950s, Stephanie Harris gives us
a wonderfully dotty widow in Louisa Wilberforce, a woman who sees
aliens, Nazi spies and ne’er-do-wells behind every bush, or, as we find
out, running the local newsagents Sadly, for one so perceptive of foreign spies,
interlopers and collaborators, she has no idea of the real intent of the
string, or should that be ropey, quartet under her nose who are using
her back bedroom for “rehearsals” for not so much a recital as a
security van robbery. There is the conductor, Prof Marcus, a superb
performance from Chris Butler, who can find a reason, excuse or usually
downright lie to explain just about anything. He is the orchestrator
Then there is Major Courtney, war hero and conman, played with a delightful hesitancy by Steve Fisher. The Major is awfully worried about the whole thing although he is assured that if he was any less involved in the robbery he “would be working for the police”. Apart from being a robber he seems almost normal until you discover his penchant for frocks and ladies clothes. Fashion accessories can hold back genius as the Prof discovers at the hands, or rather feet, of Mrs Wilberforce Twitching away in the corner is Cockney spiv
Harry Robinson, a walking chemist’s shop, in a lovely performance from
Matt Ludlam. Harry carries a kaleidoscope of pills with uppers to keep
him alert and twitching - and cleaning and polishing anything in sight -
then he has to take downers to calm him down, then a pill to counter the
downer five minutes later, then an upper, then . . . and so on. Then there is One Round, which gives us a very
different Tony O’Hagan in a wonderful comedy performance as the
lumbering, slow witted, punch drunk, ex-boxer who has taken too many
hits and too many dives in the square ring. His mouth and brain have a
very limited connection, indeed there are very limited connections
within his brain itself. And finally there is the foreign, vicious mobster
in the shape of dapper assassin Louis Harvey, played with a fear of old
ladies by Daniel Robert Beaton. He is a dedicated pessimist with a
somewhat fractured use of English who always expects everything to go
wrong. As in the film he is less funny than disturbing with an
implication that he is a somewhat cruel individual. There is a cameo performance by Christine Bland
as Mrs Jane Tromleyton as the leading light of Louisa’s ladies’ group
who arrive for a concert – using the word in its loosest sense – who
gushes enthusiastically at the avant garde music. “Being fooled by art is one of the primary
pleasures afforded to the middle classes,” asserts “Professor” Marcus. The ladies’ group, incidentally, like the rest of
the cast were all beautifully costumed. Topping and tailing the whole episode is Pc
Macdonald, played in suitably understanding and ponderous way by Andrew
Cooley. Oh, and let’s not forget General Gordon, the
feather-bare, diseased parrot under the cloth in the corner. Comedy depends as much on timing as script and
the cast were pretty well spot on which not only wrings out maximum
laughs but also builds a good, natural pace which jollies everything
along – no one was looking furtively at watches in this one. The film had a dark side to the comedy with a
genuine menace as the gang decide who is going to dispense with their
landlady after she decides to shop them. This is missing in the much
lighter passage in the stage adaptation by comedy writer Graham Linehan,
who brought us Father Ted, but that is hardly an issue as the script
provides an injection of witty lines and sight gags to provide a steady
stream of laughs. Director Stokes keeps up a good pace with plenty
of physical gags and a couple of running gags which are never over
egged; and full marks too to the technical crew with lighting used to
break up the set into different scenes as well as the sound and smoke as
Kings Cross trains clatter past outside the bedroom window, shaking the
walls and taking out the lights. There are a lot of cues to cope with
and if any were missed they were not spotted. The result, a clever set, slick technical,
attention to detail and superb acting, is a wonderful evening’s
entertainment that would not look out of place on the professional
stage. To 28-03-15. Roger Clarke
20-03-15 |
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