Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen

In the organizer's words:

Charity has a name: The Brewster sisters Abby and Martha have big hearts and are loved by everyone. They care for and help wherever they can. Unfortunately, their charity goes so far that they poison elderly single gentlemen. The men are supposed to find peace over a delicious, life-threatening glass of homemade elderberry wine - because a lonely old age? God forbid!
Conveniently, their nephew Teddy lives in a fantasy world and assists his aunts in the belief that they are on an important mission. When her second nephew Mortimer discovers a dead body in the house and the long-lost third nephew Jonathan unexpectedly turns up on the doorstep, things get complicated. Especially because Jonathan himself has a body in his trunk ...

"There's a body in this trunk."
"Yes, darling, we already know that ... I only put Mr. Hoskins in the window chest because Dr. Harper came."
"So you knew what you were doing. You just didn't want Dr. Harper to see the body?"
"But not for tea - that wouldn't have been so nice."

The fast-paced comedy by New York-born Joseph Kesselring was a huge success on Broadway in 1941 and a real box office hit with 1444 performances. A year later, 'Arsenic and Lace' was also a hit in London. In 1944, Hollywood consequently produced a film version of the play - starring Cary Grant as his nephew Mortimer. Actor and director Roland Riebeling - known to many in the role of assistant Norbert Jütte from Cologne's 'Tatort' - brings the satirical, macabre comedy to the stage of the opera house as a fine, fast-paced show.

Performance duration approx. 2 hours 10 minutes incl. one interval