Arsenic And Old Lace

Critiqued by Emma Gift

(Emma Gift, a Junior at Littleton High School, is its permanent theatre reviewer for Colorado Backstage. That is, until she graduates, which I would like to prolong, but don’t think I have a prayer of a chance. Arsenic opens next week. Emma invited to a rehearsal, indicates if this high school production is great in rehearsal, it’s a production to seriously consider next weekend. – Holly)

Arsenic and Old Lace at Littleton High School

Arsenic and Old Lace, written by Joseph Kesselring and directed by Kryssi Martin is an amusing tale of two very elderly sisters Abby Brewster (played by Lilli Hokama) and Martha Brewster (played by Faryn Tobler) who have over the years adopted a hobby of poisoning old, and (by their standards), lonely men in order to put them out of their misery. They do this by mixing arsenic and strychnine with wine and calling it “elderberry wine.” The two of them have been living their lives as normal every since they’ve committed themselves to this “good deed”, that is until their nephew Mortimer (played by Elliot Luke), a notorious theatre critic finds out and his brother Jonathan (played by Keith Boos), a mad man/serial killer comes to visit them.

When I first walked in, the first thing I noticed was the sets, built as if extending to the audience an invitation in for some tea. The stage was painted like a hard wood floor and all of the furniture reminded me of my grandma’s house (as it should). The prop’s crew chief is Ali Follett. Patrick Severa is the construction and sound crew chief, and the paint crew chief is Leanna McGregor. The makeup crew chief is Ann Thomas, the costuming crew chief is Cynthia Hohnbaum, and the lights crew chief is Haley Landers. The stage manager is Doron Burks, the assistant stage manager is Sam Scotti and the student director is Cecily Boley. The whole play takes place in the living room of the Brewster sister’s home. Fit with a table, china cabinet, couch, chair and a very morbid window seat.

When the show starts, we are greeted by the Reverend Dr. Harper (played by Josiah Prezkuta), who seems to be very settled at the table, as well as the aunts’ other nephew, Teddy (played by Michael Houle Von Behren). Teddy is a crazy man, convinced that he is President Teddy Roosevelt and is living at the house spending most of his time “digging the Panama Canal” in the basement. Teddy is the one who hides all of the dead bodies in the basement or as he perceives it, is burying another yellow fever victim in the Panama Canal. Soon after, Abby emerges with some tea for the Reverend. I couldn’t help but notice that although the Reverend’s character was very well executed, I found him to be a little robotic.

Presently, there is a knock on the door, and Elaine (played by Alex Wood), Mortimer’s soon-to-be fiancée enters. Elaine explains to the aunts that she is waiting for Mortimer to take her to a show. When Mortimer arrives, the two aunts leave him and Elaine alone and he proposes. She rushes home to tell her father, and Mortimer happens to open the window seat (currently holding a yellow fever victim –played by Doron Burks- waiting to be buried in the Panama Canal). He jumps to conclusions and assumes that it is his fanatical brother Teddy who is the murderer. However, when confronted, the aunts nonchalantly explain to Mortimer what they have done to twelve old and lonely men so far.

As if things couldn’t get any more hectic, this is where Jonathan enters, accompanied by his assistant, Doctor Herman Einstein (played by Connor Jones), who is an alcoholic German plastic surgeon. Since Abby and Martha can’t recognize Jonathan at the door, they pretend they’re not home, forcing him to break in. After Jonathan explains to his two aunts that they just can’t recognize him because of his plastic surgery gone awry, they reluctantly let him stay the night, and he too finds out their murderous secret.

Chaos follows shortly after; Mortimer evolves more and more into a crazy person and is consistently being followed by an aspiring playwright/ Irish police officer, named O’Hara (played by Cody Ullrich). Mortimer ultimately gets Jonathan arrested and commits Abby, Martha, and Teddy to Happy Dale’s sanitarium. Mr. Witherspoon (played by Scott Eggleston), the geriatric person in charge of Happy Dale’s comes to the house with commitment papers. After all three of them sign the papers, Mortimer leaves with Elaine and the play ends with Mr. Witherspoon accepting a refreshing glass of elderberry wine from Abby and Martha.

My comments for this play are very positive. Lilli and Faryn both fully embraced their characters and I saw no speck of a teenager anywhere on them. They had great comedic timing and instinct and not one of their puns went without at least a chuckle from me. I also noticed that the two were very good at “physicalization” and that made the play even funnier.

I thought Alex was exceptionally charming as Elaine; it was just like I was watching a woman I know bicker with her fiancée. However, I’m afraid she was a little graceless and un-ladylike in her heels. Scott played quite the optimist on stage and gave a hilarious last line. Also Cody, as Officer O’Hara, had a great Irish accent but I found him to be a little redundant in his inflections. Elliot was so much fun to watch as Mortimer and had great chemistry with all of the people on stage. Keith’s Jonathan portrayal was incredibly creepy and his voice dropped to a low growl whenever he was agitated. It made me recall that of the Joker’s in the movie Batman: Dark Knight. He even gave me chills when he first came on stage! Michael was hilarious as Teddy and everything he said was wonderfully spastic and amusing. At first, I wasn’t sure about Connor as Einstein and I didn’t know what to think. However, by the end I fully appreciated his character and fell in love with his innocence and compassion.

I know very well how hard everyone worked on this production, not the least of which of course included Kryssi Martin. Her dedication, the love of her craft, and expertise in her overseeing this production was evident in every detail and I really appreciate and recognize all the time that has gone into this. When I walked in, the whole cast was on stage interacting with each other as their characters and I got so excited. I was suddenly overtaken with the contagious energy that was in the room and it gave me a sense of anticipation.

I highly recommend seeing this show, as it will take you back to when you used to complain about your crazy family.

Arsenic And Old Lace
By Joseph Kesselring
Directed by Kryssi W. Martin