Arsenic and Old Lace

What a great old play this is and one that has stood the test of time. It still gets plenty of laughs as the audience are introduced to the eccentric Brewster family and their macabre ways. 

The two aunts, (Annette Brunton and Brenda Anderson), are dutifully getting rid of lonely old men and giving them a fitting funeral in their basement. Their nephew Teddy (Mike Atkinson) , who lives in a make-believe world helps them to dispose of the bodies as well as disturbing the neighbours with his bugle playing. Then up pops the long lost nephew Jonathan, (John Pearce) and his friend Doctor Einstein (Ian Hagues) whose list of casualties equals that of his Aunts. You had to wonder how the third nephew, Mortimer (Jocelyn Cook) appeared to be so normal but all was revealed as the play moved on.

A strong cast captured the characters well and the action of the play flowed smoothly. I was a little puzzled by the lack of American accents and if it hadn't been for some excellent New York cops I would have thought that we were in a little English town.

The set and props were excellent and it was a good move to have the basement entrance at the front of house exit giving them more room on stage. A lot of thought had gone into details on the set and also with the costumes which were very suitable for the period of the play.

The cast brought out the dark humour of the play and with bodies appearing and disappearing it was a highly amusing evening. Well done to the two directors, it isn't an easy job moving fourteen characters around a small stage but they managed it very well.

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