Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace is probably Joseph Kesselring’s best-known play, also made into a film in 1941 starring Cary Grant. With a nod to the film, to set the scene, we saw film-like credits using the back wall of the set as the screen and at the beginning a short clip of the murder of Mr. Spenalzo (Glen Marks) carried out by Jonathan Brewster.

The story involves two seemingly charming spinster sisters with a taste for murder and three unusual nephews, one a killer on the run with a plastic surgeon in tow and another who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt. The only apparently sane nephew is theatre critic Mortimer (Symon Hamer) who is in love with the girl next door (Emmie Rhodes). He stumbles upon his aunts’ deadly secret and fears for his own sanity.

The action takes place in Brooklyn 1941 on a stunning set designed by Nick Green, depicting the living room of the two aunts, delightfully played by Jean Erxleben as Martha and Caroline Fenton as Abby. Both think they are doing the community a service by administering elderberry wine, laced with arsenic, to lonely old men and dispatching their bodies to be buried in the cellar. Excellently cast is James Klech as the bugle playing Teddy Brewster, who unwittingly helps his aunts by burying the bodies in the cellar believing it to be the Panama Canal!

Providing the sinister menace and the family’s other serial killer, is lookalike for Boris Karloff, Jonathan Brewster, scarily played by Neil Harris. He has in tow a nutty plastic surgeon, Dr. Einstein  (Mary Alderson) ready to change Jonathan’s features to avoid arrest.

The four incompetent police officers (Helen Winning, Aimi Cree, Dan Palmer and Peter Emanuel) dismiss any suggestions that there might be bodies buried in the cellar as they are too busy congratulating themselves for capturing the most-wanted Jonathan. Mortimer is relieved to find out that he is not of the Brewster blood-line and to end it all the sisters ply a final drink to Mr. Witherspoon (Derek Hollweg), the mental home superintendent come to arrange their admission.

This was a thoroughly entertaining production, with standout performances spread throughout the cast and good comedic pace – CHAARGE!

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