Arsenic and Old Lace is a classic black comedy about the only thing more deadly than poison: Family.

Spinsters Abby and Martha are kindly old ladies, happy to share their home with nephew Teddy – who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and spends much of his time digging the Panama Canal down in the cellar. Older brother Mortimer is aware of their gentle eccentricity but enjoys visiting, particularly as he is in love with the girl next door.

But… Where is maniacal brother Jonathan, and what is he up to? And how exactly are Abby and Martha ‘helping’ the local population of lonely old men? Dorchester Drama brings you Joseph Kesselring’s farcical black comedy, most famous as a 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant, but originally a long running Broadway and West End theatre production.

Performed in the Corn exchange in Dorchester November 2023