In the smoky, dimly lit parlour of his aunts' quaint Victorian home, Mortimer Brewster, a sharp-witted drama critic of the 1940s, brims with excitement. Freshly engaged to the lovely Elaine Harper, he eagerly anticipates sharing the joyous news with his beloved Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha. But as he stumbles upon a lifeless body hidden away in a cabinet under a window, Mortimer's joy turns to bewildered horror. His aunts, whom he has always known to be kind-hearted and nurturing, confess to the grisly deed with a disconcerting matter-of-factness. Mortimer is left dumbfounded, grappling with the notion that his gentle aunts could be capable of such a macabre act.
Thus unfolds a darkly comedic tale in which appearances are deceiving and family bonds prove to be far more sinister than Mortimer could have ever imagined. As he tries to unravel the tangled web of secrets that shroud his seemingly innocent relatives, Mortimer finds himself drawn into a whirlwind of uproarious events. With each revelation, the line between comedy and tragedy blurs, painting a portrait of a family whose bonds are laced with danger and where laughter often masks dark truths. In this gripping narrative, wit and suspense converge to explore the darkest corners of familial love, leaving Mortimer Brewster to confront not only a murder mystery but also the unsettling reality of his own kin.
Produced by the Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT), the play Arsenic and Old Lace is brought to life by a brilliant cast and an ingenious director-trio — Kanchan Pandhare, Naimunniusa Khan, and Munavar Syed. The play was penned by American playwright Joseph Kesselring in 1939, popularised by its 1944 film adaption, and is famous in the North American theatre landscape. Arsenic and Old Lace is a witty, black comedy that presents a murder with satire and humour.
Speaking to TNM, the directors said they met through Bangalore Little Theatre’s director’s workshop, which led to them producing the play. The play was able to attract a large number of young viewers and had 12 successful shows, the last of which was performed at Rangashankara on June 28.
Excerpts from our conversation with the directors:
Why did you choose this play, and how did you want to differentiate your production from its previous adaptations?
Naimunniusa: We had a common goal in mind, which was to do something with high energy, and we read different scripts. We picked this one because it's swift and witty. This is the kind of script that we have not seen in recent years. It's a classic, timeless script by Joseph Kesselring.
Munavar: The three of us met at the directors’ workshop, allowing us to work as a team and select our play. I don’t have a theatre background; it's very new to me, but I’m very passionate about movies, and I watch indiscriminately, so I wanted the play to be something that can appeal to everyone. I did not want the language to be so complicated that only a particular crowd could appreciate it. The play was written in the late 1930s, yet it stood the test of time. It's something that could connect with the modern-day audience. We noticed that during the show's run, kids and seniors enjoyed and engaged with the humour.
We edited the script brutally, keeping the audience in mind, and we conjoined multiple characters. We added little things to the characters, such as Naimunn bringing in a doll companion for Jonathan. The character has childhood issues and is very attached to the doll, and this interpretation was taken up by an actor playing Jonathan. We tweaked many of the dialogues, and initially, we were scared of its reception across different theatre audiences, but it worked out.
Did you interpret the characters differently from the original play?
Naimunniusa: In a majority of scripts written till the 2000s, there is a hero and there’s a villain. It used to be very black and white, but overtime, we have seen a change in how characters are written. Now we see a story behind the villain and why they became one.
The characters are different from those in the original play and the 1944 movie. There were moments when people came and told us they felt bad for Jonathan, the play's antagonist. This was because the backstory was done in such a way that it elicited such emotion. We added a doll to his character to give the idea that he was very lonely in this house, and the only company he felt comfortable with was the doll.
The play is a comedy, and what usually happens when people attempt comedy is that the script is made slapstick. We didn’t want our play to be just slapstick. We wanted it to be high comedy and decided that we would not go over the top. We tried to remain faithful to that in most scenes except for the character Officer O’Hara, who needs to be over the top because he’s full of energy.
As for Mortimer Brewster, around whom the story revolves, we allowed him to break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience. So, whenever he talks to himself, his inner monologue is to the audience; this makes them see the play through his eyes.
This was your first time directing a play. What was the process of selecting the cast and production team like?
Naimunniusa: We went through an open audition process, which is what BLT follows. We gave different monologues for different age brackets because if you look at the play, the energy levels needed for all the actors were different. So, when we held auditions for the cast, we looked into balancing the energy levels of each character. Everyone has to be on their toes for this play, and the contrasts between the characters make the play so fun. We had 79 auditions, from which we chose a team of 20 actors.
Munavar: For an amateur theatre group, everyone brought in incredible professionalism. There are 33 people in the entire group, and there was a lot of learning from handling them for the last eight months and keeping the relationships warm. Something that kept the ‘Poison family’ as we call ourselves, going, is the firm belief that the audience is king and deserves a spectacular experience. We loved the high we got from every giggle and applause from the audience, and it pushed us to give it our all.
The play was well-received by a predominantly younger age group. Did you expect such an engagement from the audience?
Munavar: I would consider it a success that we brought a new generation to the theatre. Theatre veterans say that it is a dying art and that it is usually friends and family who come to watch your shows. But we saw many examples that challenged this view, like a lady who came to watch on the first day of the show, and she loved the character Jonathan so much because of his childlike behaviour that she brought her daughter with her to the next show. I saw many teenagers and young adults come to the show without any prior theatre experience but were pleasantly surprised by the play and enjoyed it. The biggest win is when we see a repeat audience, and we have seen multiple people come back again with new groups of friends because they enjoyed the show so much.
Kanchan: We had students who came and then promised to bring their parents for the next show. Some people came three times, so the response has been great, be it kids, teens or adults. Everybody loved it, and we are glad we could direct such a play.