Arsenic and Old Lace (play)

Arsenic and Old Lace
First edition, 1941.
Written byJoseph Kesselring
Characters
  • Mortimer Brewster
  • Martha Brewster
  • Abby Brewster
  • Teddy Brewster
  • Jonathan Brewster
  • The Rev. Dr. Harper
  • Elaine Harper
  • Dr. Einstein
Date premieredJanuary 10, 1941 (1941-January-10)
Place premieredFulton Theatre, Broadway
Original languageEnglish
GenreDark comedy
SettingThe living room of the Brewster home in Brooklyn. The Present.

Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra.

The play was produced by Lindsay and Crouse and directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the play moved to the Hudson Theatre, closing there on June 17, 1944, having played 1,444 performances.[1] The West End production – directed by Marcel Varnel and produced at London's Strand Theatre – enjoyed a similarly long run.[2] Opening on December 23, 1942, and closing on March 2, 1946, it totalled 1,337 performances.[3]

Of the 12 plays written by Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace was by far the most successful. According to the opening night review in The New York Times, the play was "so funny that none of us will ever forget it."[4]

  1. ^ ​Arsenic and Old Lace​ at the Internet Broadway Database
  2. ^ "Production of Arsenic and Old Lace | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  3. ^ 'Chit Chat', The Stage, 14 February 1946, p.4.
  4. ^ "Arsenic and Old Lace", Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times, 11 January 1941.