Newport Playgoers’ next production, The Ladykillers, is a classic black comedy in which a sweet, little, old lady, alone in her house, is pitted against a gang of criminal misfits who will stop at nothing.

Based on the well-known and much-loved 1955 film of the same name, this stage version tells how Professor Marcus and his gang, posing as amateur musicians, rent rooms in the lopsided house of sweet but strict Mrs Wilberforce.


The villains plot to involve her, unwittingly, in Marcus’s 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?

The play is based on one of the most famous Ealing Comedies – and it would have been hard for that not to make the grade with the likes of Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom and Alec Guinness among the cast. The stage version has been entirely reworked by comedy writer Graham Linehan, who scripted classic TV shows Father Ted and The IT Crowd.


The Ladykillers is at the Dolman Theatre from Tuesday November 10 to Friday November 13 at 7.15 pm, with a matineeperformance on Saturday, November 14 at 2.30pm. To book tickets call 01633 263670 or visit www.dolmantheatre.co.uk.

Pictured rehearsing The Ladykillers are Ruth Ferguson (Mrs Wilberforce), Gareth Baskerville (Professor Marcus), Richard Dymond (Major Courtney), Wayne Fenton (Louis) and Luke Bowkett (Harry)