Pictures: A Cork spin on a classic US play

A director has put her own spin on a classic play to entice audiences back to the theatre.

Finola Doyle O’Neill, who lectures in broadcast history at University College Cork and is the owner of Stage It productions, will be bringing Arsenic and Old Lace to Cork Arts Theatre from Tuesday, September 6 to Saturday, September 10.

The play was originally set in New York, but Ms Doyle O’Neil has adapted it for Cork audiences, placing the characters in a British setting. The play, by Joseph Kesselring, has long been a favourite on Broadway, and was made more famous by its film adaptation, starring Cary Grant. It follows drama critic Mortimer Brewster, who is navigating family life with two ‘crazy’ aunts, an incompetent police force, and a love interest named Elaine.

Ms Doyle O’Neill said it’s time to shift from the pandemic to entertainment.

“People have had enough,” Ms Doyle O’Neill said. “They want to be entertained. The reason I set up this theatre company was because I wanted to go back to the classics. Fundamentally, people want to be entertained. If along the way they get educated or elevated, that’s great, but the priority, at the moment, should be escapism. There are a lot of questions being raised in this about what madness really is.”

She said that’s what makes the story so unique.

“Essentially, there are three layers to the story: There is the nephew, Mortimer, who is unwilling to marry his sweetheart because he fears that he is carrying the ‘mad’ gene, which may produce another generation of madness; there are the aunts, who have a guesthouse and have no moral question around whether the crimes are committed, because of their belief that the male victims are going to have empty, barren lives; Mortimer’s brother is genuinely so blatantly psychopathic that nobody has empathy for him. He is shocked that his aunts are more murderous than him.”

Ms Doyle O’Neill explained her changes to the text: “A lot of the time, actors can’t sustain American accents for an entire production and end up sounding like Dallas. It was for this reason I made it British and replaced wine with copious amounts of tea.

“It’s a dark comedy, but I think the changes that have been made give it a lighter touch.”

• To find out more about productions in Cork Arts Theatre, visit www.corkartstheatre.com