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 \u2013 the imaginative, immovable Mrs Wilberforce \u2013 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 …”<\/p>\n
It’s still going to be a lot of fun, “an action-packed black comedy” as the blurb has it \u2013 “with only a parrot and one of the dimmest members of Her Majesty\u2019s constabulary on her side, can Mrs. Wilberforce escape the fate that the gang has in store for her?”<\/p>\n
There are further shows on 23 and 24 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"