ARTS: Comedy show The Ladykillers opens this November in Tipperary

Opening on Monday, November 11 in The Source Arts Centre, Thurles Drama group will present The Ladykillers written by Graham Linehan, author of the very successful and popular Father Ted comedy series.

The play is a farce set in1950’s London and will run in The Source until Saturday, November 16.

Many of you will be very familiar with Father Ted, the iconic madcap series set in the west of Ireland, lampooning the clergy and their outlandish adventures starring Dermot Morgan.

Linehan’s unique writing style defined the series, and he continues in this mode in The Ladykillers, which was originally an Ealing Studio comedy made in 1955 starring Alec Guiness and based on a screenplay by William Rose.

The plot revolves around a gang of five oddball criminal types who rent a two-room apartment in an isolated house on a London cul-de-sac near King’s Cross Station from a very elderly widow and her pet parrot.

The group’s mastermind, Professor Marcus (Matt Tracey), tells her a cover story that they are members of an amateur string quintet and would like to use the rooms to work on their musical skills and prepare for a concert.

In reality, they are plotting to rob a bank and plan to use Mrs Wilberforce’s age and innocent demeanour along with her Victorian sensibilities to their advantage.

Despite being elderly, widowed, and doddering, the strong-minded Louisa Wilberforce (Mary Condron) lives alone except for her pet parrot.

Marcus is betting on Mrs Wilberforce being true to what he knows of her nature, which will allow him to use her as a dupe in the plan.

But, as certain aspects of the crime emerge, Marcus and the gang have to decide what to do if they believe that Mrs Wilberforce has figured out what's going on.

They know that Mrs Wilberforce is friendly with the police, but don’t realise that the police largely humour her and see her as a harmless, little old lady, who is constantly making up stories.

As the play unfolds, Mrs Wilberforce becomes an unwitting accomplice in the gang’s activities, and this leads to all sorts of extreme events and farcical outcomes which drives the comedy and brings the play to a hilarious finale!

Other cast members in this production include: Constable MacDonald (Denis Slattery), Major Courtney (Johnny Fogarty), ‘One-Round’ (Mich Dempsey), Louis Harvey (Christy Clancy), Harry Robinson (Alex Barrons), Mrs Tromleyton (Greta Murphy).

The play is directed by Pat Loughnane who is a very experienced director with the group and is also an award-winning actor on the festival circuit.

The opening night of the play will be a benefit night for the Suir Dragon Paddlers, a dragon boat team of breast cancer survivors from Tipperary and surrounding counties.

More on this and opening night details next week.