Synopsis
The Ladykillers is a 2011 stage adaptation written by Graham Linehan based on the 1955 Ealing comedy film of the same name. The play premièred at the Liverpool Playhouse in November 2011.
The Ladykillers is a classic black comedy; a sweet little old lady, alone in her house, is pitted against a gang of criminal misfits who will stop at nothing.
Posing as amateur musicians, Professor Marcus and his gang rent rooms in the lopsided house of sweet but strict Mrs Wilberforce. The villains plot to involve her, unwittingly, in Marcus' brilliantly conceived heist job. The police are left stumped but Mrs Wilberforce becomes wise to their ruse and Marcus concludes that there is only one way to keep the old lady quiet. With only her parrot, General Gordon, to help her, Mrs Wilberforce is alone with five desperate men. But who will be forced to face the music?
Production Details
"The Ladykillers" by Graham Linehan
Director: Peter Howard
Location: Sheffield Library Theatre
Dates: 13th - 17th October 2015
Tickets: £8 / £9
Cast
Cast
Cast
Constable Macdonald - James McCready
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce - Andrea Howard
Professor Marcus - Roger Bingham
Major Courtney - John Fereday
Harry Robinson - Ross Bannister
One-Round - Rod Duncan
Louis Harvey - Phil Gascoyne
Mrs Jane Tromleyton - Pam Bush
Mrs. Wilberforce’s guests - Jenn Aspinall, Bridget Ball, Hayley Sadler
General Gordon - Charlotte Gascoyne
Crew
Cast
Cast
Director - Peter Howard
Set Design and Construction - Hansel D'Roza, Peter Howard, Bryan Ashcroft, John Jakins, Paul Kelly, Graham Ward, David Parkin
Lighting - Paul Screaton / Paul Kelly
Sound - John Jakins / Brian Ashcroft
Stage Manager - Hansel D'Roza
Properties - Bridget Ball
Continuity - Edwina Gascoyne
Front of House - Carolyn Heslop
Ticket Secretary - Janet D'Roza
PRESS
Review by Stephen Grigg
Graham Linehan’s adaptation of the classic Eating black comedy has become a swansong for a well-loved member of Tudor Players. The late Peter Howard directed the show and would have been proud of his fine cast.
Andrea Howard ages several decades to play apparently sweet old landlady Louisa Wilberforce. Slightly less innocent are the reprobates, I mean musicians, assembled by criminal Prof Marcus. Roger Bingham is terrific as Marcus and has most of the best lines: “Poverty is no disgrace, it’s an inconvenience.” His charming demeanour seems to get his team out of the most hilariously ridiculous scrapes. He passes off five men stuffed in a cupboard, for example as a run-of-the-mill musician’s meeting. Later he orchestrates each gang member’s sob story as he mimes behind Mrs Wilberforce to get her on side.
John Fereday stars as Major Courtney a cross-dressing confidence trickster who lacks confidence. Ross Banister plays Harry Robinson; He pops pills and deals with anxiety by obsessive cleaning, when he should be bumping off old ladies. Rod Duncan is dense heavy weight boxer; One-Round.
Phil Gascoyne completes the quintet as Romanian killer Louis Harvey. Idioms are his weak spot. His thinks Courtney is a nervous ship.
Feast on an evening of silliness with a side helping of gallows humour.
Synopsis
Ernest and Delia are about to embark on a rare foray out for their anniversary dinner, but Delia is concerned about their son Trevor and his wife, Susannah. Delia believes he should have married the more 'resilient' Jan. The meal is a disaster and by the end of the first act, the couple are enjoying pilchards on toast in bed.
At Jan and Nick's house, Nick is lying incapacitated in bed and Jan is about to go to Malcolm and Kate's house-warming party, although Nick suspects Trevor's presence is also a factor for her going. She leaves and Nick subsequently falls out of bed. Unable to move, he spends the first act in varying states of distress on his bedroom floor.
At the party, where the bedroom is acting as a cloakroom, Trevor arrives - without Susannah - and reveals he and Susannah are not getting on; she promptly arrives in a distraught state. She and Kate chat about their relationships and the paranoid Susannah tells her she believes she revolts Trevor. He comes to see her; they end up fighting and ruin the party. Trevor and Jan have a heart to heart in which he is revealed to be a rather spoilt, immature and temperamental man who can't see how badly he treats people. They kiss, just as Susannah enters the room; she leaves greatly upset and Kate, much to Malcolm's annoyance, says Trevor can sleep over. Trevor decides he has to put things right with Jan and Nick first.
Jan returns home to find Nick stranded. She eventually gets him onto the bed and tells him about the kiss - their relationship too is hardly at its best. Trevor arrives and confesses all to Nick, before falling asleep on the bed.
In frustration, Malcolm has decided to assemble the dressing table he bought as a present for Kate. As they wait for Trevor to return, the pair discuss their relationship, Kate revealing how unsatisfied she is.
Meanwhile, Susannah has fled to Ernest and Delia and tells all to Delia. Delia dishes out words of wisdom, Ernest is consigned to the spare room leaving Susannah to sleep with Delia. Early the next morning, Susannah determines to call Trevor. She discovers he's slept at Jan's. In a state, she manages to contact him, they make peace but not before Trevor's been to Malcolm and Kate to apologise. There, he manages to destroy the dressing table but is reconciled with Susannah. But will anything change?
Production Details
"Bedroom Farce" by Alan Ayckbourn
Director: Phil Gascoyne
Location: Sheffield Library Theatre
Dates: 12th - 16th May 2015
Tickets: £8 / £9
Cast
Cast
Cast
Ernest - John Fereday
Delia - Edwina Gascoyne
Nick - Harry Nixon
Jan - Hayley Sadler
Malcolm - Matt Screaton
Kate - Sarah Fox
Trevor - John Moran
Susannah - Jenn Aspinall / Fran Rooker
Crew
Cast
Cast
Director - Phil Gascoyne
Set Design and Constructions - Hansel D'Roza, Phil Gascoyne, Bryan Ashcroft, John Jakins, Paul Kelly, Dave Parkin, Graham Ward
Stage Manager - Hansel D'Roza
Stage Crew - Anthony Maycock
Lighting - Paul Kelly / Paul Screaton
Sound - Bryan Ashcroft / John Jakins
Properties - Bridget Ball
Continuity - Andrea Howard
Front of House - Charlotte Gascoyne
Ticket Secretary - Janet D'Roza
PRESS
Review By Stephen Grigg
Tudor Players’ latest comedy by Alan Ayckbourn is directed by the very able Phil Gascoyne.
The stage is divided into three. In bedroom number one we have experienced and always enjoyable players John Fereday and Edwina Gascoyne.
Husband Ernest is exasperated as his wife Delia has to choose from 20 different outfits. Fereday’s funniest moment comes later in the play. He tells sister in law Susannah he hasn’t got any problems. One look at a furious Delia and he continues: “I’ve probably got a problem now.”
A younger, newish couple inhabit bedroom number two. Matt Screaton and Sarah Fox are Malcolm and Kate. They are still at the stage of playing silly games of hiding each other’s shoes.
Bedroom number three permanently houses Harry Nixon’s Nick. A bad back sees him in various uncomfortable positions as he tries to retrieve a lost book. His wife Jan played by Hayley Sadler mostly features at a party in bedroom two.
Last but not least we have Fran Rooker and John Moran as feuding couple Susannah and Trevor. Hats off to Rooker, who learned the part in a week. Moran and Rooker gelled well in a short space of time. If you can count attacking each other with a lampshade as gelling well! Rooker’s most amusing moments are when she does her affirmations and yoga breathing: “There is nothing to be frightened about.” Very trendy in the 1970s.
Set designers Hansel D’Roza and Phil Gascoyne ensure Malcolm’s DIY table collapses but thankfully no beds!
Synopsis
Tom and his wife are adopting a baby - it's the happiest day of their lives - or it would have been if Tom's brothers, Dick and Harry, hadn't decided to help. The result of Dick and Harry's 'assistance' produces two illegal immigrants, a dead body and a van load of contraband cigarettes. With the arrival of the Supervisor from the Adoption Agency and the Police Constable, Tom's ingenuity is stretched to the limit. But things couldn't get worse...or could they? The ever helpful plans of Dick and Harry continue to go haywire and they further lumber Tom with a Russian Mafia mobster and a reality TV programme. Then it starts to get complicated!
Production Details
"Tom, Dick and Harry" by Ray & Michael Cooney
Director: Roger Bingham
Location: Sheffield Library Theatre
Dates: 10th - 14th February 2015
Tickets: £8 / £9
Cast
Cast
Cast
Tom Kerwood - Rod Duncan
Linda Kerwood - Fran Rooker
Dick Kerwood - Phil Gascoyne
Harry Kerwood - Ross Banister
Katerina - Siobhan Daley
Andreas - John Fereday
Constable Downs - Kevin Cheeseright
Mrs Potter - Pam Bush
Boris - Stuart Rooker
Crew
Cast
Cast
Director - Roger Bingham
Set Design and Construction - Roger Bingham, Peter Howard, Bryan Ashcroft, Hansel D'Roza, John Jakins, Paul Kelly, Graham Ward
Stage Manager - Bridget Ball
Stage Crew - Hayley Sadler
Lighting - Matthew Screaton
Sound - Bryan Ashcroft / John Jakins
Properties - Bridget Ball
Continuity - Andrea Howard
Front of House - Carolyn Heslop
Ticket Secretary - Janet D'Roza
PRESS
Review by Stephen Grigg
Ray and Michael Cooney’s farce replaces the traditional sexual innuendo with the macabre.
Rod Duncan is excellent as apparently sensible husband, Tom who with long- suffering wife Linda, has obsessively prepared in order to show Mrs Potter they are the perfect prospective parents.
However Tom’s roguish brothers Dick and Harry soon conspire to put any chance of adopting a baby into “ain't gonna happen” territory.
There are some great set pieces. Phil Gascoyne’s Dick explains to Tom how his accidentally acquired Kosovan refugees are related, with a hilarious elaborate mime.
Ross Bannister’s Harry, meanwhile, owing to his gruesome scheme, is repeatedly thrown out of the window by Tom. Harry later on saves Tom time by throwing himself out of the window!
Rod Duncan’s Tom is the central character to the piece. The fun comes from Tom’s progressively more intricate mendacity to appease Linda, Constable Downs and Mrs Potter. Tom even has to update his brothers on the latest fiction even though they have caused all the trouble in the first place.
All players contribute fine performances. Fran Rooker is Tom’s exasperated wife Linda. John Fereday has fun as drunken trumpet playing Andreas with Siobhan Daley as his granddaughter. Kevin Cheeseright, Pam Bush and Stuart Rooker are Constable Downs, Mrs Potter and Boris the gangster respectively.
As well as directing the piece, Roger Bingham along with Peter Howard has designed an impressive set. As well as the front room, there is a long staircase and a garden seen through the window.