Two seemingly harmless old women are actually stone cold killers — this is the premise of Arsenic and Old Lace. Written for the stage in the 1940’s by Joseph Kesselring and adapted to the screen around the same time, it was first performed on Broadway, and, more recently, performed by the Victoria College Drama Society.
Who doesn’t have the occasional oddball in the family? Did they ever murder someone? Well, Mortimer Brewster, the protagonist of the story, has a family filled with eccentric characters with homicidal tendencies. Victoria College’s Drama Society did a superb job adapting this retro play without making it feel old, with the cast of around a dozen students and alumni overacting just enough to make it clear that murder doesn’t always have to be so depressing without too much over-the-top cheese.
The plot centers around a love story involving the two characters who are not totally off their rockers, and the characters are played with reassuring normalcy. The play is all about comic timing and physical comedy, which the actors exhibit throughout. Michael Mackinnon, as Teddy Brewster, and Michael Welch as the evil assistant, Dr. Einstein, played their roles with relish. Teddy Brewster, a delusional who thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt and plays the role with a perfect deadpan. Michael Welch as the doctor nailed a comedically-over-the-top German accent and maniacal giggle. The old ladies played by Gwyneth Hodgins and Nora Boydell, embodied the comedic physicality necessary to their roles, and were absolutely hilarious.
Things heat up as Mortimer discovers that his aunts have killed 12 men who have stayed at their house. They rent out rooms, and happily explain that the dead bodies in their window seat are poor souls that they have “put out of their misery” — by promptly serving them wine with arsenic. So, when Mortimer’s brother, Jonathan comes home and tries to stash a body of a man he has killed in their cellar, he finds killing certainly seems run in the family. The sinister facial expressions of Jonathan (Matthew McGrath) were alone worth the cost of admission.
