Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen (Arsenic and Old Lace)

In the middle of New York, right behind Brooklyn Bridge, between the rectory and the old cemetery, there is a small, unremarkable house. This is the home of sisters Abby and Martha Brewster. The two elderly ladies are considered to be the kindest souls of the neighbourhood: They raised their three nephews on their own, they cook for the local poor and collect funds for the orphanage and the church bazar. Their nephew Teddy still lives with them: He thinks he is President Roosevelt and digs the Panama Canal in their basement. Reverend Harper and the local police officer regularly drop by for a cup of tea – in short, the house seems like an oasis of peace in a tough world.

But a shadow suddenly descends upon Abby’s and Martha’s tranquil lives: their nephew Jonathan. He left them as the problem child and now he returns as a serial killer: He wants to wreak revenge on his aunts and his brother Mortimer, the family’s eternal darling of fortune. Johnny brings his accomplice Dr Einstein along because they are both fugitives and there’s a fresh body that they have to get rid of.

When Mortimer stumbles across a corpse in a chest, things become complicated. Strangely, Abby and Martha don’t seem to share his agitation. All the more, Mortimer desperately tries to save his beloved aunts and Teddy from the law. Which isn’t easy when the police keeps dropping in for tea and also don’t seem to realise the danger that everybody is in from the wanted gangsters Johnny and Dr Einstein.

But gradually, the two criminals come to realise that the lovable old ladies may not be the easy marks that they had thought. Not everyone who has visited them has survived. Abby and Martha too may have a skeleton in their closet, or their basement. Or perhaps more than one…

“Arsenic and Old Lace” was premiered in 1942 and may be the most amicable, famous and dark among all famous dark theatre comedies. Nothing and nobody is ‘normal’ here. Abby and Martha are the least normal of them all; they do the darkest things with the greatest air of normality and helpful peace of mind. Morality is a malleable term in the two aunts’ house, but how they all uphold it as a matter of course is very, very funny.

Due to its elaborate situational comedy and hilariously morbid charm, the world premiere production enjoyed 1,444 performances on Broadway, followed by the film version by Frank Capra. Its ambiguous look back at the ‘good old days’ made Joseph Kesselring’s play into a classic.

Director Tina Lanik has worked extensively at theatres including Deutsches Theater Berlin, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Residenztheater Munich and at Vienna’s Burgtheater. “Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen (Arsenic and Old Lace)” is her first production at Schauspiel Leipzig. Designer Stefan Hageneiner, who regularly works with Tina Lanik as well as with Christian Stückl at Munich’s Volkstheater or at Passionsspiele Oberammergau will also work at Schauspiel Leipzig for the first time.