Delaware's REP Presents ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

After months of living with the constant strain and stress of the pandemic and everything that has come with it, we all have a powerful need for the escape and joyous distraction of a rollicking comedy - the kind of comedy that replaces anxiety with belly laughs and tension with tickled funny bones. The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) delivers that kind of irresistible hilarity in their latest audio production, Joseph Kesselring's hilarious farce ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, in a delightful one-hour adaptation for radio by Ernest Kinoy.

This quirky comedy will have you roaring with laughter as our resident actors delightfully embody the colorful members of the mad Brewster family. Drama critic Mortimer Brewster discovers that his seemingly sweet old spinster aunts have a nasty habit of poisoning lonely old men with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with "arsenic, strychnine, and just a pinch of cyanide", and then burying them in the cellar of their Brooklyn home.

Adding to the madness are Mortimer's two crazy brothers, Teddy, who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt, and Jonathan, a homicidal fugitive who looks like Frankenstein's monster thanks to the botched plastic surgery performed by his alcoholic accomplice Dr. Einstein. The resulting chaos makes for an uproarious farce filled with laugh-out-loud dialogue and side-splitting plot twists as Mortimer struggles to cope with his outrageous family.

A classic American rib-tickler, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE has been adapted for film, television, and radio since its debut in 1939, and continues to be popular on stages all over the world. When asked why he thought the show was still so popular 80 years after its premiere, director Steve Tague said, "I guess you would call it a chestnut because it's a particular kind of reliable American comedy that wins and works no matter what." Tague goes on to say that one of the things he enjoys about ARSENIC AND OLD LACE is, "There is no moral or message to this story - it is a show that is just for laughs, and we could all use a good laugh now more than ever."

The cast includes REP company members Kathleen Pirkl Tague* (Abby Brewster), Elizabeth Heflin* (Martha Brewster, Elaine Harper), Hassan El-Amin* (The Rev. Dr. Harper, Lt. Rooney), Lee E. Ernst* (Teddy Brewster), René Thornton, Jr.* (Officer Brophy, Mr. Witherspoon), Mic Matarrese* (Mortimer Brewster), Stephen Pelinski* (Jonathan Brewster), and Michael Gotch* (Dr. Einstein). *Members of Actors' Equity Association.

The creative team includes Steve Tague (Director), Eileen Smitheimer (Sound Designer), and Ryan Touhey (Composer).

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE will be available for online streaming, for free, anytime from February 26th to May 16th through the REP's website at www.rep.udel.edu/presentations/arsenic-and-old-lace.

To post a comment, you must register and login.