The Ladykillers

By Graham Linehan.

Using the original Ealing comedy film as a starting point, this stage version of The Ladykillers is far more than a re-hash for the theatre. Graham Linehan has taken and developed the story of dear, elderly Mrs Wilberforce, living alone with her parrot, General Gordon, in a house by King's Cross Station (the location is important) to new heights of comedy.

She is approached by a Professor Marcus who enquires about renting a room in which his amateur musician friends can practise. When the musicians arrive, however, it's fairly obvious to all except innocent Mrs Wilberforce that this is no Mozart String Quartet but a bunch of crooks. Their aim is not to improve their fingering on the strings, but their fingering of loot to be lifted from the Station!

One of the best-loved British pictures of all time is transformed from a dark comedy into madcap mayhem by the co-writer of Father Ted, Black Books and – on television now - Motherland.

A great hit with audiences when it opened in Liverpool Playhouse in 2011, it went on to enjoy a successful run in the West End.

Directed by Laura Elizabeth.