When it was announced that Matthew Macfadyen and Stephen Mangan had been cast as PG Wodehouse’s day-saving valet and aristocratic nincompoop, it felt as if the angels had arranged a slice of theatrical perfection.
There are those who would say this had already been achieved in the Stephen Fry/Hugh Laurie television combination – and who would we be to argue – but they did not have the directorial brilliance of Sean Foley, whose version of The Ladykillers has twice played guffaw-inducing seasons in the West End, at their disposal.
The mere prospect of the production, which opens at the Duke of York’s theatre next month, is enough to make us giggle at our PCs, so it was with Wooster-like enthusiasm that we snatched at the chance to take a furtive glance at a few shots of the cast rehearsing. Tally ho!