Review: The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers is back on the West End stage at the Vaudeville Theatre and on Monday night I was lucky enough to have a front row seat to see the new cast in action.

Originally a 1955 hit film, this Graham Linehan adaptation brings the classic story back to the theatre with an all-star cast including Ralph Little (The Royle Family) and Simon Day (Fast Show). Graham best known for TV shows Father Ted and the IT.Crowd has made sure the comedy shines through!

The play tells the story of a little old lady Mrs Wilberforce, played by Angela Thorne (To The Manor Born) who lives alone with her parrot in a lopsided house in Kings Cross. All is changed when she rents out her room to a Professor Marcus (John Gordon Sinclair), who then invites four of his ‘bandmates’ over to practice for their upcoming concert, although they are not really musicians they are in fact criminals planning their next bank robbery. As with all comedies things don’t go quite to plan and you get to see the plans unravel!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I had never seen the film and I am more of a musical lover than a play, but what I did get was a funny enthralling performance. The mix of cast works so well together and you can tell they are having fun whilst doing it. Any slip-ups add to the comedy value, such as when Professor Marcus dropped his hat onto the stage too far, he just quickly ran to pick it up. Angela Thorne plays Mrs Wilberforce brilliantly,we all know that old lady that just wants to talk and make sure everything is ok, that’s Mrs Wilberforce!

I loved Ralph Little as the drug headed robber, super funny. Con O’Neill done a great job as the pschyo evil Russian, although be careful if your near the front, there’s a lot of spitting coming from his mouth, think that episode of Friends, you know the one?

Overall I would recommend going to see The Ladykillers, it’s got a great cast and many laughs. Not to mention the fab set!

I was a guest at The Ladykillers thanks to Superbreak.