Linehan turns to a classic for new stage in career
IF the Republicans wanted a copy of Barack Obama's birth certificate to confirm his ethnic origins then I want one to confirm Graham Linehan's age. The official line is that the Dubliner is 43 but at times he comes across as a boy in a grown-up's clothes!
Mr Linehan's roll of achievements is longer than a list of demands by the Occupy London protesters, but at the summit sits the comedic masterpiece 'Father Ted' just ahead of the wonderful 'The IT Crowd'.
When it comes to making people laugh over and over again Mr Linehan has the Midas touch. The small screen is his canvas and viewers swoon over his pieces of art.
So when the prolific tweeter decided to pen the theatre script for the 1955 classic Ealing Comedy 'The Ladykillers', the critics were intrigued.
The original screenplay written by American William Rose told of a gang of sinister criminals who dupe an eccentric old widow into renting out rooms to them. Posing as a string quintet they pull off a security van robbery but the normally oblivious landlady smells a rat. The only thing for it is for the old lady to meet her maker but it doesn't quite work out that way . . .
With a superb cast featuring Peter Capaldi (whose mother hailed from Killeshandra in Co Cavan), famed for his performance as Malcolm Tucker in the BBC sitcom 'The Thick of It', Ben Miller and James Fleet, it's no wonder the reviews have been hugely positive.
And all this success by a scriptwriter who for decades felt uncomfortable in the presence of stagecraft. "I've never been a big fan of the theatre to be honest. Recently, though, I realise the main reason for that was that I didn't see enough good theatre to give me the buzz. Actually I had whatever the opposite of that buzz is," says Mr Linehan.
He adds: "I've always been of the opinion that theatre is a lot less subtle than television and that's part of the reason why I wasn't drawn to it. Where an eyebrow could be raised to make a point on film, actors would have to turn over a table on stage. The director of 'The Ladykillers', Sean Foley, has shown me, though, that there can be subtlety in turning over a table, too."
But there were few theatre trips for a young Graham growing up in Dublin. When the chance to be entertained raised its head, he wanted one thing.
"I was always a cinema boy. I'd be the first running into the Adelphi, the Carlton or the Ambassador to see the latest flick. I found it most intoxicating," he said.
A long-time fan of 'The Ladykillers' film itself, he says: "As a kid I remember watching it and liking it because it had murder and people falling over, that's everything you want to see as a young boy. Actually that's everything I want to see now!"
But surely it was hugely difficult to redraft something so well known? Not so, says Mr Linehan: "It was exciting to turn 'The Ladykillers' into a different beast. Obviously it had to be very different to the film, otherwise there would be no point in doing it, but at the same time the plot was the plot. Sometimes it's easier to work within some restrictions; it's an artistic discipline."
He adds: "I find it hard to watch '(Father) Ted' or 'The IT Crowd' because I can spot the mistakes, to me they're apparent. But with 'The Ladykillers' I can sit back and look at it in a very different way.
"It's like I was the one flying when the plane took off but I'm not the one who's going to have to land it."
'The Ladykillers' is running at the Gielgud Theatre, 35 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6AR -- see www.theladykillers.co.uk for details.
- Graham Clifford
Irish Independent
