The Grange Theatre, Walsall - The Ladykillers - 10th - 20th September 2014

The Grange Theatre, Walsall

The Ladykillers

10th - 20th September 2014

The rights for The Ladykillers have recently become available to Amateur theatre groups, and the Grange Playhouse is one of the first places in the West Midlands you will get to catch it. A stage adaptation of Ealing’s 1955 film, written by Grahame Linehan who is famous for bringing us such television comedies as Father Ted and The IT Crowd. This true British black comedy is full of tricks and every gag is pushed to its full potential, resulting in one hell of a production!

When sweet and naïve Mrs Wilberforce put an advert for a room to rent in her local news agents she didn’t expect for it to be snapped up so quickly. Unknown to her by a gang of five pick-a-mix criminals posing as amateur musicians; led by charismatic and charming Professor Marcus, plan to unwittingly include Mrs Wilberforce in their security van robbery. When she finally cottons on to what they have done, they pass around the responsibility of ‘getting rid’ of her, while the thuggish Romanian refuses to do the deed. Her only friend is a diseased parrot, General Gordon, hidden under a blanket, that terrifies the brutes and personally left me dying to see what it looked like! Will the gang play Mrs Wilberforce as badly as their broken instruments or will she stop them in their tracks?

After searching through the crowds of people for my seat I took in the striking and intricate set, the detail that Martin Groves has put into his design only furthers the fantastic production and the crew’s hard work is something to be applauded! The unexpected entrances and exits had the audience’s eyes darting across the stage and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had gone that extra mile to create the brick wall effect outside the front door of Mrs Wilberforce’s, that took us all back to 1950s built up King’s Cross, London. The dusky pink lampshades assisted the lighting, producing a warm, homely atmosphere and the sound of the pipes clanking and the speedily approaching train shook every teacup in the house, gave the lopsided set character.

The piece was superbly cast, Dexter Whitehead captivated the audience with every flick of his ridiculously long scarf as the seemly educated and flamboyant Professor Marcus. One-Round, played by Joseph Hicklin, who is always saying the wrong thing and confusing his under cover story, grows fond of the aptly named Mrs Lopside and is a loveable, and hilarious character. Mary Whitehouse is a wonderful Mrs Louisa Wilberforce, leaving the audience wondering whether she is as batty as some of her stories are or if she really has an ulterior motive, her pace made the piece flow and her comic timing fuelled much of the laughter. In addition to this, Alex Barzdo as the bumbling Major Courtney adds further comedy with a humorous fascination with women‘s clothing. Christopher Waters plays Louis Harvey, the aggressive and cynical Romanian, with a strange fear and suspicion of old women. Rod Bissett is, too much amusement, the criminal with a cleaning obsession, armed with a pot of colourful pills. Finally, Les Wilkes plays Constable Macdonald, stumped by the robbery but heart-warmingly puts up with Louisa’s stories with a smile, he also looks fabulous as a women! 

The entire audience was laughing from the start until curtains down and tickets are very much in demand, I am not surprised, the cast and crew have worked hard under the direction of Rosemary Manjunath, whose vision had been brought to life. Congratulations to all involved, I can’t wait for the next production and I hope that it’s as popular as The Ladykillers has been.

Review by Ellie Scandrett