Search results
Dramatists Play Service, one of the premier play-licensing and theatrical publishing agencies in the world, was formed in 1936 to foster national opportunities for playwrights by publishing affordable editions of their plays and handling the performance rights to these works. DPS offers an extensive list of titles that includes many of the most ...
Arsenic and Old Lace is a three-act, farcical dark comedy by American playwright Joseph Kesselring. It made its Broadway debut in 1941 and enjoyed a successful three-year run. The play was made famous by the 1944 film adaptation directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster. It is still commonly read and performed today.
Cindi Calhoun. Arsenic and Old Lace plot summary, character breakdowns, context and analysis, and performance video clips.
People also ask
What is Arsenic & Old Lace?
Was arsenic and Old Lace a good movie?
Who wrote Arsenic & Old Lace?
Where does Arsenic & Old Lace take place?
What are the themes of the play Arsenic and Old Lace? In Arsenic and Old Lace, who does Jonathan resemble and why is this ironic? Why does Mortimer want to keep his wedding a secret?
Regardless of the reasons for the play’s success, Arsenic and Old Lace remains dear to the hearts (and funnybones) of modern audiences. It has become Kesselring’s legacy, with its film incarnation and numerous stage revivals around the world.
Synopsis. New York drama critic Mortimer Brewster ( Cary Grant ), despite being the acclaimed author of The Bachelors Bible (and Marriage, a Fraud and a Failure, and Mind over Matrimony) has finally agreed to marry his sweetheart, Elaine Harper ( Priscilla Lane ).
He began working as a freelance playwright in 1933, completing 12 original plays, of which four were produced on Broadway: There’s Wisdom in Women (1935), Arsenic and Old Lace (1939), Four Twelves are 48 (1951), and Mother of that Wisdom (1963). Arsenic and Old Lace was his masterpiece.
