Theatre Cambrian's executive director, Mark Mannisto, announced today that due to high ticket demand for the company's current dinner-theatre offering, Arsenic and Old Lace, an extra performance has been scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 11.
"We have been overwhelmed by the success of Arsenic," said Mannisto. "Arsenic and Old Lace is the first production of our 24th season, and what a way to kick off the season - to be completely sold out before the curtain even rises."
"It's a night of Madness! Mayhem! Murder! - well, it's only murder if you're Mortimer Brewster. If, on the other hand, you're one of his spinster aunts, Abby or Martha, then you consider it to be an act of charity - a way to help lonely, older gentlemen to a better place, said Mannisto.
Arsenic and Old Lace takes place in the Brewster family homestead in 1939 Brooklyn. Only recently, Mortimer has agreed to marry his fiancé, Elaine Harper, when he discovers that there is a body in the window seat.
Thinking it was placed there by his demented brother, Teddy (who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt), Mortimer urges his aunts to have Teddy committed. However, they inform him that the gentleman was, in fact, placed in the window seat by them as a act of charity.
As part of their charity work, they refresh lonely, older gentlemen with an elderberry wine cocktail strengthened by arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide.
Meanwhile, the body which Mortimer has found turns out to be one of twelve. The other eleven are in the basement where Teddy has buried them, thinking that he's disposing of yellow-fever victims while he's digging the Panama Canal.
Onto the scene steps another Brewster, the murderous Jonathan, with his alcoholic plastic-surgeon friend, Dr. Einstein. Both are on the lam and seeking to hide their identities from the authorities.
They bring with them a body of their own, much to their aunts' chagrin. Enter the police. However, they're too busy collecting toys for the Christmas drive and writing plays about life as one of New York's finest to be of any real use.
Directed by Dale Pepin (The Long Weekend - 2007), the show promises to keep audiences amused throughout its three acts.
Pepin has cast a number of seasoned Theatre Cambrian actors, as well as some very promising new talent. "Don't delay reserving your tickets for the added performance of this wonderfully farcical comedy," states Pepin
Theatre Cambrian is presenting Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace at the Jubilee Centre (Applegrove Street) as the first dinner-theatre production of its upcoming season.
The added show will run on Thursday, Sept. 11. Tickets, which include a dinner catered by Diana's Catering, cost $42.50 each and can be purchased downtown at Records on Wheels or by credit-card reservation at 524-7317.
For more information on Arsenic and Old Lace or on any upcoming Theatre Cambrian production, please visit www.theatrecambrian.ca .
