Arsenic and Old Lace

Such is their kindness that a gentleman guest never leaves their Brooklyn boarding house without a good meal and a refreshing glass of something nice. If any of their gentleman guests had a more sensitive nose, however, they might detect a faint odour of something else in the glass. . . something a little like bitter almonds.

Abby and Martha`s favourite nephew, theatre critic Mortimer Brewster, has no idea about his aunts` secret. Until, that is, he travels to Brooklyn to introduce his fiancée, Elaine, to the old dears - and makes a discovery that turns his world upside down.

In a frantic attempt to conceal their crimes, Mortimer tries to lay the blame at the door of his barking mad but completely harmless brother Teddy – who thinks he`s Theodore Roosevelt and frequently disappears into the cellar to dig the Panama Canal.

But Mortimer`s plan comes a cropper when his other brother, the terrifying Jonathan, appears on the doorstep. On the run and with a strangely changed appearance, Jonathan doesn`t want the police involved. In anything. And Jonathan expects people to do what he says. Or else.

Immortalised in the 1944 film starring Cary Grant, Joseph Kesselring`s hilarious black comedy is one of the most popular plays in American theatre history and proved a huge favourite with PFT audiences when previously seen in 1990 and 2002. What better choice as the first PFT Classic?

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