The acclaimed Broadway and West End hit play, "Arsenic & Old Lace'' will be staged by BMDS at Daylesford next week.

"This is a high comedy play and will have a very broad appeal to theatre lovers,'' says Warren Cabral, the publicity manager for the play.

For some time now, director Christine Barritt has been hoping to involve more first-time cast and crew members in a production.

"This is the first time I've ever directed a show, and I wanted to find a play I knew quite well. I was flicking through the channels one night and saw "Arsenic & Old Lace'' on television and thought to myself, that's the one.'' The play was staged here for the first time at Daylesford in the 1980s and was a huge success.

The plot of "Arsenic'', written by Joseph Kesselring, centres on easy-going theatre critic Mortimer Brewster (Kelvin Hastings-Smith) who discovers, quite by accident, that his genteel spinster aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster (Victoria Waddington and Sheilagh Robertson) have a bizarre habit of poisoning elderly gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar of their Brooklyn home.

Complications arise when Mortimer's villainous brother Jonathan, played by Adrian Barnaby, suddenly appears on the scene after a 20-year absence, with alcoholic plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein, (Stuart Doyle) in tow. It seems Jonathan intends to use the family home as a place to hide from the authorities while he undergoes another face change under Dr. Einstein's knife.

Jonathan also decides that his sweet old aunts would be the perfect front for the disposal of his latest victim's body.

While attempting to cope with these two unsavoury situations, Mortimer tries to have his bugle-blowing brother Teddy (John Thomson takes on this role) -- who thinks he's President Teddy Roosevelt -- committed to a sanatorium, deal with police officers who drop in at the most inopportune moments and, at the same time, soothe his unsuspecting fiancee, Elaine, played by Lisabet Outerbridge.

There are 14 cast members in this play along with a production team of 22.

"Instead of one producer, we have four co-producers who deal with different sections. We have an administrative producer, backstage producer, technical producer and a stage manager. If the smaller groups communicate with each other the job gets done just as efficiently without one person having to do all of the work or being in charge,'' says Ms Barritt.

"Nine times out of ten, you see the same people over and over again. Other people don't get much of a chance. You can't improve your acting skills unless you get on the stage. I also wanted to get people to return to the stage who hadn't acted in a while.'' Ms Barritt mentions that some people are concerned that the play is "dated'' because it is set in the 1940s. "This play will appeal to a wide range of people. Even if the younger audience don't get the jokes, they will enjoy the physical part of it, and the older people will remember.'' The energetic director points out a "dated'' play is a play the audience cannot easily understand.

"Considering all the obstacles that have been thrown at us I think we are doing really well, although there are still a few kinks left to iron out. It's difficult to put a play on in the summer because there are many people very busy with families, social events and work. We did have a member drop out and it has been quite difficult finding a replacement in a short space of time.

`Arsenic & Old Lace' From Page 23 "It has been quite difficult to find set objects as the set is a house in the 1940's which is in a time warp from the Victorian Era. Furniture has been difficult to find with ornate Victorian legs, but I am using my Grandmother's china and my Grandparents' wedding pictures. Essentially, my whole family will be on stage, as we're using my old family pictures in very old frames.

"A few of the costumes had to be specially made for the two aunts, and we have found some suits for the men in the costume room for the men, although they do not always fit them properly,'' smiles Ms Barritt.

"We are on quite a tight budget for the play and everyone has been very helpful. Major Dill from the Bermuda Regiment has loaned us a bugle which Jon Thompson had to learn how to play for his part, and the Bermuda Police force has been very helpful with costumes and renting us space at the Recreation club in which to practise.

"I'm very pleased with the cast in general, some of whom have never been on stage before and we have some Bermuda College students who have never been in a production. One Bermuda College student has improved 200 percent since the beginning of rehearsals,'' enthuses Ms Barritt.

"I wanted also to attract more Bermudian members to BMDS to try and shake the club's reputation as an `Expatriate's Social Club'. It's actually not like that at all as the majority of members are Bermudian. We have great fun at Daylesford, and there's lots of opportunity for Bermudians to get involved in all aspects of the stage, lighting, sound, costume, set design, props, and theatrical work.

"The cost of becoming a member of BMDS is quite reasonable, $20 a year for students and $40 for adults, and we always welcome new people,'' she adds.

Besides "Arsenic and Old Lace'', Christine Barritt says she has many projects to keep her schedule filled for the next five years.

She has written a Bermudian farce with a working title of "Who's Your Deddy?'' which she hopes to put on next spring, and has written a another pantomime which might be produced at the end of 1997.

The show will run from July 18 to the 27 at 8 pm and the tickets are $10. The box office is open from Saturday, July 6 through Wednesday, July 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 on weekdays and 12:30 to 2:30 on Saturdays. There are no telephone bookings.

LACED WITH ARSENIC -- Rehearsing for the upcoming BMDS production of Arsenic & Old Lace at Daylesford Theatre, are director Christine Barritt, and main characters (top to bottom) Sheilagh Robertson, Victoria Waddington, and Kelvin Hastings Smith.