Review: Arsenic and Old Lace at Wycombe Town Hall Theatre (From Bucks Free Press)

Review: Arsenic and Old Lace at Wycombe Town Hall Theatre

4:03pm Monday 29th October 2012 in Freetime By Rita Carpenter

THIS was an impressive choice for Fourways’ Autumn production which was evident by the full house for each performance.

An old play set in New York it tells of two elderly sisters who run a boarding house.

They seem quite harmless until it transpires that they are killing off their elderly guests with poison in the homemade elderberry wine.

They bury the bodies in their cellar with the help of their mad nephew Teddy and even hold funeral services for the deceased.

They think they are doing a service for lonely old men.

A comedy thriller, it had plenty of scary moments but with laughs along the way.

A very strong cast kept the action going and director Rob Wratten together with producers Carolyn Kendall, Jonathan Marks and Rick Butler ensured the action was well paced throughout.

The set was brilliant, the lighting and sound extremely effective and the costumes were authentic and superb.

Once again Fourways has come up with a winning formula and demonstrated their versatility to their faithful audience.

Their next production The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett should prove quite a challenge but I have no doubt that Fourways is up to the task and will continue to offer excellent theatre.