After more than 60 years, Joseph Kesselring’s highly amusing masterpiece Arsenic and Old Lace is still an incredibly funny show. This past weekend, the current Queens Shakespeare, Inc. presentation of this brilliant black comedy did have a few bumps (specifically, some not-so-solid lead performances), but Lawrence Lesher's direction was crisp and there were a number of high-spirited performances from an impressive supporting cast.
Kesselring's wicked tale tells the story of two presumably sweet old ladies, both considered pillars of Brooklyn for their charitable works and generosity to their neighbors. But even they, as it is said in the show, have their peculiarities. The peculiarity here is that they turn out to be serial killers.
Deciding that it would be a pity to let vacant rooms remain empty in their old house, the Brewster sisters, Abby and Martha (Nanette Asher and Pauline Walsh), occasionally take in boarders. They cannot help but notice the loneliness of the older, unattached men whom fate or chance bring to their door. When these prospective tenants of modest means tell the sisters that they are alone in the world, without family, friends, or hope, the well-meaning sisters literally kill them with kindness by serving them a glass of their homespun elderberry wine, laced with arsenic, plus a dash of strychnine and just a pinch of cyanide.
When their innocent nephew Mortimer (Greg Mocker) accidentally finds out about his aunties’ unusual “hobby,” he plans to shift the blame for the killings onto his brother Teddy (Sean MacBride Murray), who thinks he is President Theodore Roosevelt and dresses and acts accordingly. Adding to the mix is Mortimer's insane brother Jonathan (Danny Mittermeyer), on the lam from the law, wearing a new face (vaguely reminiscent of horror film legend Boris Karloff) compliments of his whiskey-drinking plastic surgeon companion Dr. Einstein (Timothy J. Cox). The pair arrives in Brooklyn dragging along a corpse of their own.
What follows is a potent mixture of madcap comedy and smoldering menace, and director Lawrence Lesher deserves high praise for striking all the right notes, with most scenes popping with great energy and enthusiasm. His production, however, while good (even quite wonderful) in many spots, falls short of being an overall great one because of two lackluster lead performances, from Nanette Asher as Abby Brewster and Greg Mocker as Mortimer. Both actors throughout seemed terribly lost, never settling into their roles or finding a rhythm, especially Mocker, whose line readings were unusual in some spots and downright bizarre in others.
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
I acted in this play several years ago (as Lieutenant Rooney) and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. It's one of those plays which - like some of Shakespeare's comedies - is so funny that the humor dates only very, very slowly.
The original Broadway production had a marvellous in-joke in that Jonathan, the black sheep Brewster brother whose plastic surgery had made him look like Boris Karloff, was actually played by... Boris Karloff.
It's a shame the actor playing Mortimer was apparently out of his depth here. The character holds the whole play together, so it's such a shame if the production fizzled rather than sparkled because of that.
2 - The Playwright
To me, in the movie version of the play, the guy who plays Mortimer was a horrible actor. He's the one supposed to be holding it together, but in my mind he did a bad job and actually drew from the play.
3 - The Guy Who Calls The Playwright Dumb
Are you crazy? Cary Grant gave one of the greatest comedy performances of all-time in the film version of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE.