THAT two seemingly nice old ladies could be mass murderers hardly seems a premise for comedy but the well-known tale of Arsenic and Old Lace has been making it work for more than 60 years.
In the way that Agatha Christie's rather genteel murder mysteries skirt around the more gruesome aspects of premeditated killings, so Joseph Kesselring's play does not dally in the sinister side of what Abby and Martha Brewster have been up to.
The maiden aunts of Mortimer Brewster, as it turns out, are not totally responsible for their actions, as insanity, to varying degrees, runs in the family.
It is, at first, more overt in Mortimer's brother, Teddy, who lives his life as President Theodore Roosevelt, a delusion which is indulged by all who know him.
Similarly, Abby and Martha cannot rationalise their habit of bumping off lonely old men as wrong, when they see it as mercy killings. Despite the grim overtones, there are laughs aplenty during an evening when the audience, by and large, is so familiar with the story and anticipating classic lines.
Angela Thorne and Brigit Forsyth excel as Abby and Martha, while Andrew Havill underplays Mortimer, enabling the dotty old ladies to take centre stage. Arsenic and Old Lace runs at the Everyman until Saturday.
Review by Peter McMillan
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