ARCHIVE - PAST EVENT

“A pedigree of successful productions dating back more than 60 years is fitting testament to the quality of drama on offer here”  The Scotsman

“Stage comedy at its finest. A brilliant play” Daily Telegraph

A classic black comedy

Abby and Martha Brewster? Why, they’re just sweet, eccentric old ladies who wouldn’t harm a fly. Such is their kindness that a gentleman guest never leaves their Brooklyn boarding house without a good meal and a refreshing glass of something nice.

If any of their gentleman guests had a more sensitive nose, however, they might detect a faint odour of something else in the glass . . . something a little like bitter almonds . . .

Abby and Martha’s favourite nephew, theatre critic Mortimer Brewster, has no idea about his aunts’ secret. Until, that is, he travels to Brooklyn to introduce his fiancée, Elaine, to the old dears - and makes a discovery that turns his world upside down. In a frantic attempt to conceal their crimes, Mortimer tries to lay the blame at the door of his barking mad but completely harmless brother Teddy – who thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt and frequently disappears into the cellar to dig the Panama Canal.

But Mortimer’s plan comes a cropper when his other brother, the terrifying Jonathan, appears on the doorstep. On the run and with a strangely changed appearance, Jonathan doesn’t want the police involved. In anything. And Jonathan expects people to do what he says. Or else . . .

Immortalised in the 1944 film starring Cary Grant, Joseph Kesselring’s hilarious black comedy is one of the most popular plays in American theatre history and proved a huge favourite with PFT audiences when previously seen in 1990 and 2002. What better choice as the first PFT Classic?