The Ladykillers
★★★☆☆ Old school
Church Hill Theatre: Weds 18 – Sat 21 March 2026
Review by Ruth Bennett
The Ladykillers, by Edinburgh People’s Theatre (EPT) at the Church Hill Theatre until Saturday, is endearing and capably executed.
The production never quite achieves the vivacious spark that animates the classic 1955 Ealing comedy film with its screenplay by William Rose, however. Nor does it fulfil the more limited promise of Graham Linehan’s 2011 theatrical adaptation.
Andy Moseley (Louis), Fraser Mackenzie (Harry), Ade Smith (Professor Marcus), Daniel Coghlan (One Round) and Pat Hymers (Major Courtney). Pic: Graham Bell.
Directorial choices, actor interpretation, and the challenges presented by a deliberately outdated script combine to give EPT’s production a heaviness that works against dramatic or comedic lift-off. Functioning as, in effect, a photocopy of a photocopy, the project suffers some loss of content at each step of remove from the original.
The much-fêted 1955 crime caper film concerns five gangsters who pose as musicians to rent a room in a sweet old lady’s home, where they plot their heist. When they accidentally reveal their nefarious deeds to their landlady, she becomes an obstacle to be removed – but their dastardly plans go hilariously awry.
a paint-by-numbers script
Graham Linehan’s adaptation, a half-century after the original, cut much of the film’s trenchant sociopolitical subtext that served as commentary on post-war Britain. It’s a paint-by-numbers script, with ponderous foreshadowing and each character given limited defining traits. They aren’t quite reduced to archetypes, but it’s a narrow miss.
To the extent his adaptation succeeds, it’s due to preserving the madcap sensibility of the original, the tension between menace and comedy, and because it evokes a particular moment in British cultural history. The wistful reminiscence isn’t just in the doilies and fringed lampshades in the effectively expressive set by EPT’s Richard Spiers: the show is, essentially, about a larger nostalgia.
Ade Smith (Professor Marcus),Fraser Mackenzie (Harry), Pat Hymers (Major Courtney) and Val Lennie (Mrs Wilberforce). Pic: Graham Bell.
Given this context, director Helen Hammond’s decision to faithfully conform to Linehan’s words and ideas is understandable. For some people, it will feel like homage. For others, particularly those who want a sharp line between Linehan’s work and Linehan himself, elements such as gratuitous and weak jokes about an ex-military man who secretly longs to wear frocks makes this more difficult. The decision not to update is defensible, but leaves much that is more cringeworthy than comedic.
Unfortunately, where EPT’s production does choose to depart from Linehan’s, it is in ways that loosen the screwball tightness of the adaptation.
Ade Smith plays the crucial role of criminal mastermind Professor Marcus as a mix of the Reverend Richard Coles and Tom Baker’s Doctor Who (the latter, perhaps, an indirect shout-out to theatrical role originator Peter Capaldi). His performance is entirely engaging, credible, and likeable, but not even remotely menacing. It’s a small change with outsized consequences.
appealingly befuddled innocence
To a large degree, the rest of the cast leans into Linehan’s simplifications rather than pushing against them to achieve more dimensional characters. As the sweet old lady Mrs. Wilberforce, Val Lennie delivers appealingly befuddled innocence, but not the strength and determination of the cinematic landlady. In consequence, the emergence of her principled stand against the hoodlums comes off, needlessly, as plot contrivance.
Fraser Mackenzie conveys the brashness and compulsiveness of the pill-popping young criminal Harry Robinson well, but he remains a thumbnail sketch of these qualities. Likewise, Andy Moseley contributes some much-needed menace as the sketchy black-clad Louis Harvey, but the accumulation of his lines establishing his dislike of little old ladies, delivered in a nonspecific foreign accent, land as repetition rather than enlargement of his character.
Standing: Andy Moseley (Louis), Daniel Coghlan (One Round), Pat Hymers (Major Courtney) and Fraser Mackenzie (Harry); seated: Val Lennie (Mrs Wilberforce), Ade Smith (Professor Marcus). Pic: Graham Bell.
As would-be crossdresser Major Courtney, Pat Hymers has difficult terrain to navigate. His unironic, earnest portrayal makes the most of the limitations of the material. Similarly, John Webster succeeds as Constable Macdonald with small gestures that go a long way to describing a personality beyond his uniform.
As the thuggish One-Round, Daniel Coghlan excels and shows what’s possible even with underwritten roles. His slow-witted oaf has a sweet depth and complexity that elevate the vitality levels on stage every time he’s the main focus.
The physical aspects of the production are superb. There’s some slapstick clowning at the start of the second act that’s simply terrific from the whole ensemble. Offstage violence is handled creatively and beautifully with shadow work; the onstage roughhousing (credit to Rebecca Mahar) is natural and captivating.
In another old-school touch, somewhat odd theatrical freezes are abundant. Though a bit contrived, they aren’t a problem unless you’re a fan of Police Squad, in which case you’ll find yourself giggling. Speaking of which, early laughs fade away in the second act, when the production switches over from classic gags to the payoff on the tension meant to have developed thus far. There’s little wound-tight madcap springiness to be released here, however, so instead the energy just continues to dissipate until the conclusion.
the yoke of nostalgia
The cast of The Ladykillers appear to be working very hard, trying to be dutiful to material that is perhaps worthy of a bit less veneration.
In this particular performance, a staging “oops” near the end threatened to upend the plot resolution. The improvised solution was both very AmDram and completely charming; it was a moment of lightness and joy that inadvertently underscored how welcome both would be in larger amounts.
The individual elements of the production are all in place here, but the yoke of its nostalgia keeps it earthbound.
Running time: Two hours and 20 minutes (including one interval)
Church Hill Theatre, 33 Morningside Road, EH10 4DR.
Wed 18 – Sat 21 March 2026.
Wed – Fri: 7.30pm; Sat mat only: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Andy Moseley, Fraser Mackenzie, Pat Hymers, Daniel Coghlan and Ade Smith with Val Lennie, Suzanne Senior, Anne Mackenzie, Lynn Cameron, Bev Wright, Pat Johnson and Aileen Copeland. Pic: Graham Bell.
ENDS
