“It is one of the few films where death is both shocking and funny,” wrote cinema guru Leslie Halliwell about 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers.

The same applies to the stage version, written by Graham Linehan, first performed in 2011 and now given a new production by the Watermill.

Unlike the film, however, Linehan keeps the action within the decaying walls of Mrs Wilberforce’s lodging house. You might think cramming both the ground and first floor on to the Watermill’s tiny stage would be a challenge, but designer Simon Kenny makes a virtue out of necessity; his rickety-looking set adds much to the production.

The fun created by the set starts at once. First to knock at the door is “Professor” Marcus (Paul Mundell), all oily charm. He wants to hire a room, he says, to rehearse a Boccherini string quartet.

One by one, his fellow “musicians” arrive. There’s the major (Dermot Canavan), who seems curiously vague about his war record. He is quickly followed by Louis (John Biddle), who carries his violin case as if it were a machine gun, spiv Harry (Harry Katsari), and huge former boxer One-Round (Alan Stocks). All are greeted by Mrs Wilberforce’s parrot, who squawks: “Like to stay to tea?” at each new guest.

But how on earth are the five men all going to cram into the tiny upstairs room?

At least they don’t need any additional space to swing their string instrument bows, for they are not really there to rehearse – they are planning a bank heist. Meanwhile, Mrs Wilberforce – a splendid performance from Marlene Sidaway – laboriously climbs up and down the steep stairs, in theory to convey cups of tea but in reality to listen in to what is going on.

Director Lee Lyford and his uniformly strong cast develop a well-sustained and very satisfactory atmosphere of chaos – both hilarious and sinister – as events play out inside Mrs Wilberforce’s bijou residence.

5/5

* The Ladykillers continues until Saturday. Tickets: 01635 46044 or watermill.org.uk.