Heiresses Have Fun With Arsenic

As Teddy shouts "Charge!" and dashes off to consult his cabinet on the latest pressing issue of national security, Dr. Harper asks the beaming Abby and Martha if they have ever tried to convince their nephew that he wasn't actually Teddy Roosevelt. The aunts explain that they'd rather he be Roosevelt than nobody, and the audience laughs with this sudden introduction to the kooky Brewster family.

Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace is an American classic, an off-beat comedy set in an old-fashioned and "peaceful" house in Brooklyn. This apparently traditional family gradually reveals its many layers of insanity with increasing surprise and suspense. This production coordinates the script's confusion, simultaneous dialogues and misunderstandings with admirable dexterity, and keeps the audience on edge for the whole two hours and 15 minutes.

Kaile Shilling and Jeanne Smoot, as the aging sisters Abby and Martha Brewster, maintain a virtually telepathic connection throughout the entire performance. They convey their characters' smothering affections and warped perspectives with uncanny precision. These benevolent murderesses are challenging characters, and Shilling and Smoot carry off their parts with wholehearted conviction.

The interplay between Daren Firestone and Lizzy Marlantes, who portray the newly engaged Mortimer and Elaine, is sarcastic and sexy. As the only level-headed characters in the play, Firestone and Marlantes hold their own as a comic couple. Marlantes draws as much humor as she can out of a role which is overwhelmed by the hyperactivity of the others.

The role of Mortimer is especially taxing, and Firestone does an excellent job accomodating the demands of his adoring, psychotic aunts, his two lunatic brothers, the omnipresent police force and the clingy Elaine.

Rich Gardner never fails to bring down the house with his boisterous performance as Teddy Brewster (or Teddy Roosevelt). Gardner's impersonations of TR includes welltimed bugle blowing, excited exclamations of "Bully, just bully!," and an endearing fondness for cabinet meetings, secret proclamations against Japan and digging graves in the cellar for his aunt's latest victims.

David Ardell and Jed Willard are wellmatched as the equally psychotic partners in crime, Jonathan Brewster and Dr. Einstein. Justin Levitt plays the native Mr. Gibbs and the overly enthusiastic Officer O'Hara with winning relish.

Directing Arsenic and Old Lace is a challenge, requiring the coordination of physical farce and fast-paced verbal humor. Scott Schwartz incorporates eleborate action and even acrobatics into his production; characters prowl and struggle in the dark with corpses on their backs, and Officer Brophy even performs a spiffy cartwheel before pinning Jonathan Brewster.

Set designers Dave Overcamp and Monbill Fung make excellent use of Agassiz Theatre, managing to squeeze the crowded Brewster household into a relatively small stage. Costume designer Alice Ristroph captures the Victorian essence of Abby and Martha with their high-necked formal dresses and long gloves; the sudden emergence of the aunts in lacey funeral attire even draws a hearty laugh from the audience.

The only shaky thing about the show seems to be the set's bannister; the actors looked a little wary of toppling off the staircase during some heated scenes. But even if the set's a little wobbly, the rest of the production is solid fun.

Characters prowl and struggle in the dark with corpses on their backs.