All families have their secrets, but perhaps the Brewsters of Brooklyn, New York, have a few more than the rest of us—maybe eleven or twelve, they’ve lost count. And by secrets, I mean bodies buried in the basement. But don’t get the wrong idea about elderly sisters Abby and Martha Brewster; they really do mean well. As audiences step into the Brewster household and the world of Joseph Kesselring’s 1941 Arsenic and Old Lace, be prepared to expect the unexpected. Director Rebecca Gomez has crafted a delightfully wicked production of a classic dark comedy laced with non-stop laughs.
In Arsenic and Old Lace, sweet, loving, old matriarchs Abby and Martha have just killed a man. Well, the two sisters might not call it murder; to them, it’s more like helping to see lonely old gentlemen lodgers off to a better place. They do it with a warm sense of hospitality by feeding the old chaps a nice dinner served with an intoxicating glass of homemade elderberry wine, made so by a few secret ingredients: one teaspoonful of arsenic, half a teaspoonful of strychnine, and just a pinch of cyanide. In addition to this sympathetic gesture, they also care for their live-in nephew, Teddy, who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and buries Abby and Martha’s “yellow fever” victims in the basement, where he believes he is digging the Panama Canal.
When Abby and Martha’s other nephew, Mortimer, discovers their latest victim, Mr. Hoskins (a Methodist, they would have you know), he’s shocked, believing the Brewster family to be cursed with madness. This seems to be proven further with the arrival of the third and long lost Brewster nephew, Jonathan, who has his own skeletons in his closet. As the family attempts to conceal their secrets from each other, just as much is uncovered about the Brewster family’s history. Arsenic and Old Lace is a clever dark comedy that will keep the audience on their toes.
I’ve mentioned this in the past few reviews I’ve done for TKD productions, but it still stands: they have made impressive use of those few extra feet of stage they now have. For Arsenic, they were able to create a small area upstage center that actors could enter and exit from as if ascending and descending up and down stairs, making for 4 entry points and even more blocking possibilities. The setting by Seth Reilly, which is the interior of the Brewster family home, is on par with TKD’s usual designs and is well suited to the action of the play.
The casting for this production was spot-on, and I genuinely think it was one of the best cast and performed productions I’ve seen from TKD so far. Windie Wilson and Donna Shoun as Abby and Martha Brewster have an odd couple effect common to buddy comedies, with the taller and slightly more serious Shoun a contrast to the shorter, sillier Wilson; they are as much individuals as they are a cohesive whole. David Snow as Mortimer is an energetic and commanding force, except when reigned in by the two aunties to our great enjoyment. The standout performance is Gary Mullins as Jonathan. His unassuming gentleness in early scenes slowly melts away to an effortless eeriness; while his makeup does a lot to achieve this, everything from the subtle movements of his hands to his careful diction contributes to the overall effect.
Smaller but no less well-performed roles include Randy Thompson as Dr. Einstein, who pairs well with Mullins; the two almost work as a foil to Wilson and Shoun. Courtney Lucca as Elaine Harper, Mortimer’s exasperated fiancee, is a grounding force in contrast to the chaos of the action, and her chemistry with Snow is well balanced against the humor of the production. And Colby Benjamin as Teddy, although in just a few scenes, is a guaranteed laugh; he’s nearly playing two different characters in Teddy, and does so with a thorough understanding of both. Just bully!
Arsenic and Old Lace runs for three more performances: August 6 and 7 at 7:30pm and August 9 at 3pm. Tickets are available at the TKD box office, located at 800 S. Central Street, or online at https://theatreknoxville.com/arsenic-and-old-lace/.
