Directorial Analysis
To
Serve and Protect
Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace is about
protecting loved ones and the absurd lengths to which people are willing go to
do so. Mortimer is a young man who is working to distance himself from his
Brooklyn roots. He fancies himself a man about town: independent, professional,
intellectual, self-sufficient. When he
opens the window seat in his elderly aunts’ house and discovers a dead body he
immediately becomes their protector. When Jonathan, his visiting psychotic
brother, discovers the aunts have the same number of kills he has, he announces
he only needs one more best them - and
in walks Mortimer – putting Mort back into his childhood role of victim and
throwing a curve into his protector role. When Mort convinces his aunts to
commit themselves to an asylum (in order to be with Teddy)– he stops their
killing spree, at the same time protecting them from prison.
The play opened in 1941; while the
US was not yet active in WWII, the threat was imminent and the script has an
early reference referring to the realities of living in a world at war. Several
of the characters that come into the house comment about the Brewster’s house
makes them feel protected and insulated from this and other harsh realities of the
outside world. What they don’t realize is that these sweet, philanthropic,
nurturing women who protect them and keep them safe are actually poisoning
lonely old men and burying them in the cellar in order to protect them from
their loneliness. When Mortimer finds Mr. Hoskins in the window seat and does
everything in his power to protect his aunts from discovery and punishment,
when the police hear there are twelve bodies buried in the cellar and laugh it
off because they can’t fathom these sweet little ladies committing cold-blooded
murder, they not only allow but also encourage the cycle to continue. Thus,
showing the audience the absurdity in efforts to protect and reform the world:
NGOs that consistently provide foreign aid keep developing countries from becoming
self sustaining, native speakers of English from developed countries who teach
their language to struggling economies and empower the learners to conquer
them, government subsidies that pay farmers not to grow crops send themselves
into debt and encourage the farmers to remain unproductive. While philanthropy
and good deeds are not bad things, many people, especially modern Americans, do
tend to overdo in their effort to protect and reform. Arsenic and Old Lace highlights the ridiculous cycle created by the
desire to overprotect and allows the audience to laugh at themselves.
Abby and Martha Brewster’s charming
Victorian house in Brooklyn is the house they grew up in. The money their
father left them allows them to maintain a cozy nest that insulates them and
everyone who enters their world. The set needs to be cozily and completely ingenious-nostalgic
Victorian (what those of us who didn’t live before electricity see as quaint
and romantic). When “regular” folks come in, there needs to be something that
compels them to slow down and smell the roses.
Likewise, the sister’s costumes
need to reflect the soft, romantic quaintness of the turn of the 20th
century – the time when they came of age and were protected by both father and
father’s money. Teddy has also ensconced himself in a more romantic era, and
his many changes, while comedic, also need to create a halo of childlike charm
about him. Other characters need to reflect the modern bustle, practicality,
and streamlined feel of the world beyond the Brewster door.
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