Tag Archives: comedy

Theatre review: The Ladykillers

8 Feb

Through the snowy London streets we tripped to reach The Ladykillers at the Gielgud Theatre. We wanted a show that warmed us up in the icy February night and this Ealing comedy transferred to the stage did the job.

When a gang of robbers, headed by Professor Marcus (Peter Capaldi), rent a room at little old lady Mrs Wilberforce’s (Marcia Warren) home, their attempts to disguise their criminal activities raise many laughs. There’s ex-boxer One Round (Clive Rowe) who’s slow off the mark, Louis Harvey with a dislike for old ladies, James Fleet as Major Courtney and Stephen Wight as the accident-prone Harry Robinson. It’s a starry cast that keeps the pace and humour going in this production directed by Sean Foley.

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Go on, make me laugh!

3 May

A night out at the Leicester Square View Club (The 99 Club)

A Saturday comedy soiree can be touch and go. There’s a risk of the mediocre, the crass and the downright unfunny. You tend to arrive at the night already primed with the lowest of expectations of the comedians and fears that your latent humour will be assaulted with desperate tales that barely manage to tickle your tongue.

This night surpassed the worries – in a positive way – the comedians were funny. However, I hadn’t considered the other risks – the chance of the most raucous stag do or maybe even the most cackling of hen nights. On this night, the former coloured the event with extremes of macho heckling and derision that didn’t reflect how the rest of the audience felt. In the end, the majority of the rest of the audience seemed desperate for that group to go, not just the put-upon comedians.

The air was tense and still for the first two acts. The first comedian Spencer Brown, with his slightly foppish, delicate but amusing performance coped well with our encouragement. The second brave funny-man Nick Doody managed to overcome the challenges altogether and get the joyless group to leave halfway through his performance. The remaining audience then relaxed to enjoy the night. The third comedian Ian Stone, was free to give us his commentary on life unfettered.

There was definitely a lot to recommend the evening, not just the humour, but the stunning view of across London you get from being in a venue so high up. Though I didn’t try it, you can also go on to the nightclub upstairs that opens directly after the show. The London View Club is somewhere I would experience again.

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