At The Arctic Playhouse, Arsenic and Old Lace is presented like a lovingly preserved heirloom that’s polished and peculiar, yet dangerous enough to keep everyone anticipating the suspense! Directed by David Jepson, Joseph Kesselring’s macabre comedy proves murder, when served with lace doilies and elderberry wine, can be deliciously funny.
A timeless hit, Arsenic and Old Lace is the humorously beguiling story of two charming elderly ladies residing in Brooklyn. The year is 1941, but they dress as though it’s still the turn of the century (Costume design by Nancy Spirito). They believe that by poisoning their poor, lonely, ailing lodgers (then burying their bodies in the cellar), they are sparing these unfortunates from the sorrows of this world. However, not everyone shares their warmhearted perspective.
The secret to Arsenic and Old Lace’s enchanting vibe is balance. Lean hard into slapstick, and the play loses its menace. Push into the darkness too far, and the comedy curdles. This production hits gratifying middle ground, frolicking in the absurdity while allowing the sinister undercurrent to bubble beneath the floorboards. Jepson wisely chose not to modernize or over-conceptualize the material, trusting the mastery of the play to work its magic.
Kesselring’s script, while a bit too verbose in framing things at the start, still smacks with the timing of a Vaudeville pie fight. The setting, a sitting room within the Brewster home, radiates a comfy warmth complete with Victorian furnishings. Offering the lived-in simplicity of a rest home, this creates exactly the sort of trusted environment where a body or ten could disappear unnoticed for years. The Brewster home itself becomes a secret weapon, with every door, window and shadowed corner conveniently complicit in the madness. At times, the lighting dims completely, not only to indicate plot shifts and mayhem, but during which time the actors prepare for the next scene without leaving the stage. Gotta love how this tension-soaked atmosphere evokes old Hollywood thrillers!
“Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my all-time favorite shows to direct and be in,” says Jepson. “Written in 1939, it was brought to the silver screen in 1944 with such luminaries as Cary Grant, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre. This cast of young and old neophytes and veterans have blended seamlessly, growing in their roles and skills. They’ve all surprised me in moments of comic and acting genius. I love watching my actors evolve! One of my greatest enjoyments is sharing the techniques and actor’s tricks I’ve learned over more decades than I care to admit! These are gifts I’ve received from those before me who I’ve watched and learned from.”
What makes Arsenic and Old Lace endure is its exuberant embrace of contradiction. The adorable Brewster sisters, Abby (Beth Jepson) and Martha (Katherine Kimmel) are sweet, charitable women ignorant to the immorality of their actions. They’re putting these sufferers out of their misery, or so they tell themselves, and, shamelessly, a few others! There’s never a dull moment in the Brewster home as their live-in nephew Teddy, stoutly portrayed by Bill Cabrera, believes he is Teddy Roosevelt charging up San Juan Hill.
Another nephew, Jonathan Brewster, portrayed menacingly by Paul Koczwanski, arrives in the night looking and sounding creepy, like Frankenstein’s monster stitched together in a back alley. Doing the sketchy stitching is “Dr. Einstein,” hilariously portrayed by Kurt Bloom. They’ve been on the lam, so Jonathan returns to his gracious aunts for a hideout, unknowingly and conveniently just the right place to be!
This accumulation of lunacy somehow remains lighthearted rather than grotesque, as though something sinister, dredged up from Hell, just rented a room in the Brewster home and intends to stay. The only nephew who seems to have his wits about him is Mortimer, portrayed with tremendous anxious agility by Daniel J Holmes. He sweeps the stage frantically trying to manage the mounting horrors unfolding before him.
Great seeing Board Director Jim Belanger take the stage! As bungling officer Abe Klein, he wears the perpetual smile of a Keystone Kop. Several other Arctic veterans add to the fun chaos with their artistically effective talents. Jepson’s pacing is sharp in the second act, when doors slam, secrets unravel, and panic escalates with precision. The ensemble knows how to handle farce. Reactions, jokes and interruptions land without lingering. Everyone treats the situation as though it’s deadly serious, effectively heightening the comedy.
The play’s enduring appeal resonates with its depiction of family as both refuge and trap. The Brewsters clearly love each other, despite overwhelming evidence that they probably shouldn’t. Beneath the toxicity and mayhem lies the notion every family has secrets; some are simply more homicidal than others.
There’s something hearteningly nostalgic about a classic comedy performed without irony. This production of Arsenic and Old Lace simply entertains, and successfully so! On opening weekend, the audience exploded with spontaneous, perpetual belly laughs. Luckily, the peculiar magic of Arsenic and Old Lace invites us to laugh at the murder, madness, and dysfunction within. You might feel a wee bit guilty grinning at behavior that would be horrifying anywhere outside the walls of Arctic’s darkly demented play. Enjoy!
The Arctic Playhouse presents Arsenic and Old Lace through June 7. For more information, visit thearcticplayhouse.com/.