The Ladykillers

It was a classic Alec Guinness Ealing comedy film of the 1950s and then a Coen Brothers remake (with massive infrastructure alterations) of 2004. Then in 2011 Graham Linehan adapted the 1955 original for the stage; it’s recognisable, and you still get the innocent little old lady – the imaginative, immovable Mrs Wilberforce – plus a corrupt gang, their visionary leader, and five deaths. But as Linehan has said, “an adaptation is partly a collaboration. You are working with the (sometimes long-gone) author to give the best account you can of the source material. Often, remaining what some call ‘faithful’ to the source is the worst way to achieve this …”

It’s still going to be a lot of fun, “an action-packed black comedy” as the blurb has it – “with only a parrot and one of the dimmest members of Her Majesty’s constabulary on her side, can Mrs. Wilberforce escape the fate that the gang has in store for her?”

There are further shows on 23 and 24 September.