Arsenic and Old Lace

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ is a black comedy penned by Joseph Kesselring. Presented by Blak Yak Theatre at the Midland Junction Arts Centre, corner of Cale Street and Great Eastern Highway, Midland until 26^th June at 8.00 pm with matinees on 20^th and 27^th June at 2.00 pm.

        The soft refrain of Morning plays as the lights come on. It is Brooklyn, and the home of the two dotty, elderly Brewster sisters Abby (Cicely Binford) and Martha (Marilyn Flynne). They are entertaining the local minister (Jim Barton) to afternoon tea. Their doolally brother, Teddy (Rory Innes), who is convinced that he is President Roosevelt consumes most of the guest’s biscuits whilst he musters the troupes ready for another attack on San Juan Hill. Even when the police (Peter King and Adrian O’Neill) arrive to visit the dear old ladies, they are well aware of Teddy’s harmless, but demented behaviour.

        Just after the minister leaves, his sexy, scarlet daughter, Elaine (Róisín Bevan) arrives. She is madly in love with the sisters’ theatre critic nephew, Mortimer (Tristan Feihn-Pearcy), who fancies himself as a blend of Cary Grant and Humphrey Bogart.

        By chance, Mortimer discovers that his aunts' charity work for the homeless has taken a new and sinister twist. He finds a dead body hidden in the window seat and suspects his crazy Uncle Teddy. Meanwhile in the cellar, Teddy is digging locks for the Panama Canal and burying any yellow fever victims that his sisters bring him.

       To Mortimer’s horror, he returns to his aunts’ house to find another lonely man, Mr Gibbs (Steve Osborne) about to have afternoon tea – starting with a glass of their famous elderberry wine!

      When out of the blue, Mortimer's deranged brother Jonathan (Alan Malcolm), a psychotic assassin, arrives with his Peter Lorre-like friend, plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (John Bevan) along with a great deal of extra baggage. The whole household is filled with fear.

       Will the sharp wit of Officer O’Hara (Kallum Mansfield) and his boss Lieutenant Rooney (Ray Rummer) be in time to stop more murders? Will Elaine get her man?

Although written more than 70 years ago, the humour still holds up extremely well. Not only are the characters crackers, but so is the insane logic of the script - like something from Groucho Marx. The author wanted the play to be bedlam and the very young directors, sisters Róisín and Sinéad Bevan, have succeeded exceptionally well. There was plenty of movement and action. The farce-like elements were slick and the pace perfect (although it dropped off a little in the last ten minutes).

Because the venue doesn’t have a stage or proscenium arch, production manager Adam Shuttleworth had many mountains to climb. However, the quality set was ‘real’, well designed, and stacked with props of the period. The lighting (Nick Donald), again considering the lack of rigging points, was admirable. The characters were well defined and very different, each being portrayed wonderfully. Their costume design (Barb Walton) and hair / makeup (Kylie Ogg) was of the period, and helped the characterisation greatly.

The fun and madness of this play carried over to the audience, giving us all a wonderful night of Community Theatre. A fun show for all ages. You will leave with a smile.