REVIEW BY STEVE MACKRELL: Directors Tony and Sue Wall managed to put
some broad smiles on the faces of a near capacity audience with their
revival of the 1939 classic black comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace”.
Despite its implausible plot, this successful revival delivered a
feel-good factor and demonstrates that CDS is still able to fill the
Village Hall over 3 evening performances and send the audience home
happy. However, to achieve this, the play has to be the right choice,
the direction needs to have pace and the cast have to work together
as a successful ensemble. All these ingredients were present the
night I attended and congratulations must go to all concerned with
this production.
Tony and Sue Wall displayed great affinity for this play, written
by Joseph Kesselring, and their enthusiasm could be seen shining
through in this production. Looking at the programme notes, the play
appears to have a special place in both their hearts – Tony even
being in the 1966 West End revival with Sybil Thorndyke and a very
young Richard Briers. However, this is a difficult production to
produce, containing quick entrances and exits and calling for eleven
male roles – a hard ask in today’s world of amateur theatre. The
script, now some 75 years old, at times lost some of its momentum,
but nevertheless, is peppered with lines which still amuse and there
were certainly a lot of laughs and positive audience reaction.
The play revolves around the very “odd” Brewster family in
Brooklyn with the hero Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic, trying to
hold his weird family together while worrying about whether to marry
the girl he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts, whom he
believes to be sweet and innocent, but who are murdering lonely old
men by poisoning them with home-made elderberry wine mixed with
arsenic, strychnine and a “pinch” of cyanide; a brother Teddy who
believes he’s President Theodore Roosevelt and another brother,
Jonathan, who’s a sadistic psychopath who keeps having face
transplants to evade being arrested for his crimes. His plastic
surgery is performed by an ageing alcoholic surgeon, Dr Einstein, who
has made him look like the 1930’s horror-film actor Boris Karloff
(who incidentally played the part originally on Broadway).
The key male role was played by Jon Constant (Mortimer Brewster)
who is at the centre of most of the farcical situations and he
displayed excellent comic timing throughout. His character is pivotal
in maintaining the momentum of the play, which admittedly is now
showing its age, but Jon Constant kept the pace moving quickly.
The two “poisonous sisters” were played with great
eccentricity and charm by Juliet Bagnall and Liz Ness and, despite
their murderous intentions, were somehow very believable as the
sweet, timid and very innocent sisters – where even a “fib” is
regarded as far more sinful than mere murder. Susanne Tunnicliffe, as
Mortimer Brewster’s love interest Elaine, brought great zest to the
role and her reactions to the events going on around her were
excellent: I particularly enjoyed her “authentic beauty” scene
where her infatuation for Brewster was excellently and amusingly
portrayed.
Richard Williams gave a measured performance as the sinister
brother Jonathan without going over the top and managed to combine
evil intent with just the right amount of comedy. Steve Infield, as
the third brother Teddy, showed his usual energy in his eccentric
portrayal of the dotty brother who thinks he’s the President of the
USA as well as seemingly constructing the Panama Canal in the
basement. Robert Edenborough played the mysterious Dr Einstein, the
German surgeon who specialises in facial reconstruction, with a
fiendish enthusiasm which put me in mind of a sort of mad Max Wall.
The “business” involving the switching of bodies from the window
seat “coffin” was a highlight of the evening.
Of the other roles, I enjoyed John Bellamy’s Reverend Harper,
effortlessly played and with just the right amount of reverent
sincerity and also Barry Rocard’s Mr Witherspoon, who provided the
last laugh of the evening as the latest victim about to be poisoned
by the two sisters. Also an accolade must go to Michael Robinson who
had a cameo role as Mr Gibb, the unsuspecting tenant seeking a room
under the roof of the poisonous sisters – a very funny scene which
Michael played with relish.
Of the police characters, Michael Helen and Nick Stock were
effective “stooges” while James Edenborough’s Office O’Hara
was played with great enthusiasm as an aspiring playwright,
especially in the scene where he describes the plot of his newly
written play to drama critic Mortimer Brewster. However, Barney
Donaghy struck the best New York, or rather Brooklyn, accent of any
of the cast. I have to admit that accents among the cast were
somewhat varied but such inconsistencies mattered little to the
audience.
The production was enhanced by a remarkably good set, designed by
Ray Moss, and indeed one of the best dressed sets I can ever recall
seeing at Claygate, and the opening applause was well deserved.
Costumes, by Maggie Wrightson, also deserve great credit especially
given the large cast of 14 to dress. I especially liked the detail of
the police uniforms, even right down to the folded white gloves
tucked under their belts. Lighting was faultless and well controlled
especially in the more “sinister” scenes – sound, Colin
Hansford and Lizzie Lattimore, was also spot-on and I especially
liked the “creaking” window seat. The background music was apt
ranging from “Bless This House”, suitably ironic for such a
dysfunctional family home, balanced with Mozart’s Turkish March
(Rondo) which provided the subsequent “comedy” link between the
later scenes.
This was an excellent show and clearly a lot of hard work was put
into this production by many different people to create an end result
which was clearly enjoyed by Claygate’s theatregoers. And, of
course, the last word should go to Tony and Sue Wall for making such
magic happen. Congratulations.
