This famous comedy may not quite have everything, but it has a good try. Its setting, in a large family house, peopled by eccentric characters, reminds you of Agatha Christie, but its location in Brooklyn gives it a New York edge, there are reminders of Hollywood horror movies, and the comings and goings of its frenetic plot are pure Feydeau.
Its author, Joseph Kesselring, was a producer of amateur drama and a prolific playwright. It was first staged in the USA in 1941, after which it became one of Broadway`s greatest hits. Filmed by Frank Capra as a screwball comedy starring Cary Grant, and produced in the West End with Sybil Thorndike and Athene Seyler, it has been part of the standard repertory ever since, often done by amateur groups.
The play helped to establish the `black comedy` as a modern theatrical genre. It is about two charming and gentle old ladies who poison their lonely lodgers to relieve them of the tribulations of this world. They are surrounded by a number of well-drawn characters, ranging from the innocently uncomprehending to the eccentric, bizarre and positively psychopathic. It is extraordinary that such dark material can end up being so funny.
We propose something similar to Under Milk Wood, which we did as a kind of theatrical Mardi Gras just before Lent last year, that is, a `dramatic reading` done in front of an audience, with scripts in hand. There will be a certain amount of `production` but in the end it will be the energy, humour and ingenuity of the writing (and, we hope, its delivery) that will help to banish the February gloom.
There are two performances in the Church,
at 7.30pm on Friday 8th February, and 4.30pm on Saturday 9th February.
Arsenic and Old Lace
Bill Risebero