St Peter’s Hill Players are performing Joseph Kesselring’s darkly comedic play Arsenic and Old Lace to the Guildhall Art Centre, Grantham

Fresh from the dark, true story of Ruth Ellis, Grantham’s thespians are returning with a more light-hearted comedy.

St Peter’s Hill Players are bringing Joseph Kesselring’s darkly comedic play Arsenic and Old Lace to the Guildhall Art Centre next month.

The play, which is also a legendary film starring Cary Grant in its 1944 adaptation and Boris Karloff in 1962, sees critic Mortimer Brewster get engaged to minister’s daughter Elaine while visiting his ‘sweet and innocent’ aunts Abby and Martha.

He’s always known his family were a bit eccentric – for example, his elder brother believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt – but things take a farcical turn when he discovers exactly how his aunts have been ‘taking care’ of lonely old gentlemen…

And when Mortimer’s maniacal brother Jonathan, who coincidently resembles Boris Karloff, returns with surgeon friend Dr Einstein (Herman, not Albert) in tow, Mortimer tries to protect his sweetheart — and his own sanity — from the nightmare he finds himself in.

The play, starring many of SPHP’s familiar faces as well as a host of newcomers, will be directed by Lucy Kelley, who was first introduced to Arsenic and Old Lace as a child and fell in love with it.

“When I found out it was originally a play, I knew I would want to nominate to the society one day,” she said.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed directing this, working together with everyone designing the set, costumes, posters, and the cast – all of whom are brilliant people who are doing an amazing job.

“Working through the script, at times it has been tricky choreographing all the movements and stage directions, but overall I have genuinely loved every minute of it – the laughs at rehearsals, the brief moments when the cast actually stick to the script(!), and seeing these characters evolve and emerge from awkward actions to flowing movements — and, dare I say it, the American accents getting better(!)”

Tickets for Arsenic and Old Lace are available by visiting https://www.guildhallartscentre.com/whats-on/all-shows/arsenic-and-old-lace-st-peters-hill-players

The play will run from October 9-11, starting at 7.30pm on Thursday and Friday , with a 2.30pm matinee on Saturday 11.