| The Brewster family could at least be described as “odd”
if not “eccentric”. Led by the two aunts Abby and Martha who
are old-fashioned in an ironic sense. They appear to be a quite, conservative
elderly couple who value the conventions of the past, attend church regularly
and donate toys to the local Christian fund. Their traditional values,
however, do not extend to their treatment of the elderly men who come
to their home looking for lodging. While their desire to help the men
to “find peace” is aligned with their Christian faith, they
resort to murder to achieve their goal.
Teddy Brewster, Abby’s and Martha’s live-in nephew, has lost
all contact with reality, completely immersed in the delusion that he
is Teddy Roosevelt (President of America 1901 -1909), which in fact is
quite useful as he covers up the aunts' murderous activities, as he buries
the dead bodies in the basement, which he insists contains the lochs of
the Panama Canal.
Jonathan Brewster, another nephew has been away for a while engaged in
criminal activities with a touch of torture, who on visiting the family
homestead is more than a little put out when he discovers that Abby &
Martha’s “Body Toll” might be higher than his.
Mortimer Brewster, a third nephew and Theatre critic for a City newspaper,
is possibly the sanest of the bunch, although he finds it difficult to
maintain his senses when he discovers what has been going on in the house,
the discovery of which puts strains on his courtship of Elaine, and his
feelings towards his role in life.
Arsenic and Old Lace
By Joseph Kesselring.
Arsenic and euthanasia.
Canterbury Players.
Whitstable Playhouse. November 2009.
The euthanasia debate is given a comic angle in the house of the Brewster family
of Brooklyn and does so without a trace of offence.
Two sisters dispatch lonely old men with poisoned wine and have them buried
in the cellar by their deranged nephew Teddy, despite the horror of his brother
Mortimer.
Another nephew, Jonathan, returning after a career in crime, reveals a very
different penchant for murder. Tony
Johnson in this role was outstanding as was Jim
Akhurst as plastic surgeon Dr Einstein. Martha (Ruth
Cameron) and Abby (Jill Akhurst)
were captivating.
Andreas Lowson played Mortimer
with the paradoxical mixture of suavity and confusion which endears him to his
feisty fiancee Elaine, compellingly acted by Sally
Brown. All the actors demonstrated the hilarity of Kesselring's marvellous
play.
Reviewed by Nina Del Gedoe
For Kentish Gazette.
Director:
Ian Burroughs, Honorary Secretary, performance director and actor.
|
Ian Burroughs.
Secretary.
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing, Dark of the Moon
Performance director: Seasons
Greetings; The Birthday
Party; Gosforth's Fete;
Play It Again, Sam ; Arsenic
And Old Lace, Barefoot in the Park.
Ian is one of the major stalwarts of the Canterbury Players, working
hard behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly: organising
sponsorship; publicity; ticket sales; venues; taking part in the choice
of performances and a great deal more besides.
His first production, as a director with the Players, was Alan Ayckbourn's
"Seasons Greetings".
This was a joint production between Playcraft and Canterbury Dramatics
Society, before their merger into The Canterbury Players. Since then,
he since been involved in one way or another with virtually every - if
not all - productions. This includes directing "When we are
Married" in November 2004; Harold Pinter's "The
Birthday Party" and later, Alan Ayckbourn's "Gosforth's
Fete", here giving a few of the newer members the opportunity
to take their first tentative steps on stage - after which they have never
looked back. |
Stage Manager:
 Liz Findlay. Stage manager and actor. |
Liz Findlay
Actor: Play It Again Sam;
Much Ado About Nothing;
Stage Manager The Birthday
Party, La Ronde, The
Accrington Pals, Gosforth's
Fete; Play It Again Sam,
Fallen Angels, Blue
Remembered Hills; Two; Arsenic
And Old Lace; The Vortex; Night Must Fall.
Liz joined the players in 2005 as prompt for Roleplay, rose to the position
of chief of teapot bearing and has been stage managing since then in Pinter's
"Birthday Party",
Ayckbourne's "Gosforth’s
Fete", Schnitzlers "La
Ronde", Whelan's "
The Accrington Pals" and Woody Allen's Play
It Again Sam in which she also took the part of Vanessa.
Liz is trained in Fine Art and has exhibited locally. She designed the posters for Fallen
Angels, and Blue Remembered Hills,
Much Ado About Nothing
and The Vortex.
Liz is going into business for herself, as a fully qualified Blue Badge tour guide, for which www.kent-and-sussex-tours.co.uk is the website. |
Assistant Stage Manager:
Adam Summers. Actor.
|
Adam Summers
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing; Two; Day
After The Fair; Canterbury
Tales
Assistant Stage Manager: Arsenic
And Old Lace
Assistant Stage Construction and Lighting Engineer: Bazaar
& Rummage
Adam joined the Canterbury Players as a result of an email that asked
him to come along to an audition for 'Much
Ado About Nothing'. The rest as they say is history.
Adam has always loved drama and as a result, studied the subject at college.
He has appeared in a number of productions, where he has played roles
such as Hatch in 'The Sea', Algernon in 'The Importance
of Being Earnest' and Napoleon in a musical version of George
Orwell's 'Animal Farm’.
He is greatly looking forward to future productions with the Players.
|
Set Design & Construction:
Colin Sherwood.
As Martha Brewster
Ruth Cameron
|
Ruth Cameron.
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing; Bazaar and Rummage;
Arsenic And Old Lace; The
Vortex; Night Must Fall
Ruth was a singing, dancing, and acting child and won the best actor prize
for Lady Macbeth at age 16. Despite gaining a provisional place at the
Hampstead School of Drama, she did not follow an acting career.
In the 1980s Ruth co- produced a school pantomime with the writer John
Larr and took part in local sketches, but then did not return to drama
until 2006 when she joined the Canterbury Players; Ruth has been involved
in most productions since. This includes singing in Marie Lloyd songs
in "Palace of Varieties",
being an attendant in "Much
Ado About Nothing" and performing the outrageous, yet poignant
part of the blaspheming vulgarian Margaret Gittings in "Bazaar
and Rummage" the 'innocent' murderess in “Arsenic And Old Lace” and the shocking socialite Florence in Noel Coward’s “The
Vortex”.
|
As Abby Brewster
Jill Akhurst. Actor. Director.
|
Jill Akhurst
Director – Palace of Varieties; Bazaar and Rummage; Night Must Fall.
Director's Assistant The
Accrington Pals
Singer of saucy songs; Actor Fallen
Angels; Two; Arsenic
And Old Lace; The Vortex; Dark of the Moon
I directed Night Must Fall twenty years ago in London, where it was a great success. I had a good cast then, but I've got an even better cast now. This is a superbly written play which, with good actors, cannot fail to keep the audience in a state of suspense right up until the last moment
Jill recently appeared at the Gulbenkian as Clara in The Vortex by Noel Coward and has sung the part of Lotte Lenya in “I’ve Looked in the Window at Diamonds” for the Really Promising Company.
One of her favourite roles was as Aunt Abby in Arsenic
And Old Lace for the Canterbury Players in October 2009. |
As The Rev. Dr.
Harper
Hugh Elsom. Actor.
|
Hugh Elsom
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace,
Barefoot in the Park.
To quote the bard “One man in his time plays many parts”. That can be said of the characters I have played over the last 50 years. They range from a Knight on murderous intent to the front half of a pantomime horse. However I have always wanted to act in “Arsenic and old Lace” and the character of Dr. Harper is just right for me in the twilight of my career.
|
As Teddy Brewster
Pip Piacentino
Read more about Pip?
Click HERE |
Pip Piacentino
Committee Member
Actor: Play It Again Sam;
Arsenic And Old Lace
Performance Director: The
Accrington Pals, Fallen
Angels; Dark of the Moon;
Pip fell in love with Britain when stationed here with the US Navy and
decided to make it his home. His links with Kent, especially Deal, stretch
back to 1964.
Pip first appeared on stage in New York when his father brought the
three-year old Pip on stage to liven up his act. He is equally at home
as an actor, director or playwright. A member of the South London Theatre
Centre, he directed many plays for them including Peter Whelan’s
"The Accrington
Pals" which he also directed in April 2007 with Canterbury Players.
Pip is to direct Canterbury Players in "Fallen
Angels" by Noel Coward. |
As Officer Brophy
Phil Hadland. Actor.
|
Phil Hadland
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace; Dark of the Moon;
After school, many years of university studies, volunteer work and pot
washing, Phil eventually moved to Canterbury for a job in the local museums
service in 2008. His appearance in "Arsenic
And Old Lace" is his first acting role since; when at the age
of fifteen he read the voice of God in a contemporary play about the birth
of Christ.
He enjoys many hobbies including painting, collecting fossils, playing
bass guitar and football. Phil joined the Canterbury Players in the hope
of meeting some interesting, like minded people and to get some experience
of acting. To that end Phil feels he has been successful.
|
As Officer
Klein
Peter Fox. Actor.
|
Peter Fox
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace;
The Vortex.
Peter has previously worked behind the scenes on "Bazaar and Rummage" for the Canterbury Players,
in set production and assistant stage manager capacities.
He is also a budding young singer-songwriter, having played his first ever public gig in September 2009.
Peter dreams of one day writing for the big screen, that's if the music thing doesn't take off!
|
As Elaine Harper
Sally Brown
|
Sally Brown
Director: The Importance
of Being Earnest.
Actor: Two; Arsenic
And Old Lace; The Vortex; Dark
of the Moon;
Stage Manager: The Canterbury Tales
Sally first acting role was as Narrator in the Nativity play Babushka.
She was offered the lead, but refused on the account that she would have
to wear a dress. Dresses were for girls.
She has stuck to her principles and has played roles such as Puss in
Boots (shorts & fur), Frauline Kost in Cabaret (dressing gown) and
Edward in Henry VI (fetching trouser suit with deadly weapon accessorises).
Only since joining the Players in 2009 has she been cast as a female character
requiring a dress.
Sally studied drama at Aberystwyth university, and her career as a Performing
Arts Teacher eventually moved her down to Kent a couple of years ago.
Trying to ‘make it’ as an author, she is currently studying
for a MA in Creative Writing and teaching English in Canterbury.
Sally recently directed 'The
Importance of Being Earnest' which was enjoyed greatly by cast, crew
and audience alike. |
As Mortimer Brewster
Andreas Lowson
|
Andreas Lowson
Actor: La Ronde; Play
It Again Sam; Fallen Angels;
Much Ado about Nothing;
Arsenic And Old Lace; Night Must Fall.
Andreas is descending the ladder of nobility. In La Ronde, he was only
a count whereas the previous year he was a duke (Twelfth Night) and before
that a prince (Caucasian Chalk Circle). He has, however, deigned to play
mere commoners in such roles as a dotty priest (Gosforth’s Fete),
a burglar, an inspector (Disposing of the Body), a solicitor, a boss and
an eccentric puppeteer uncle and now, a husband, for Noel Coward's "Fallen
Angels", then back all but full circle as Count John in Much
Ado about Nothing.
|
As Mr. Gibbs
Robert McGregor
|
Robert McGregor
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace;
The Vortex.
Robert woke up one day and decided to 'give acting a go'; as it happens,
the Canterbury Players company was able to accommodate him.
Robert's only previous acting experience was over 30 years ago in a school production of Ubu Rex (Ubu Roi). He seems to remember forgetting his opening lines but doesn't think anyone noticed.
He mentions, by way of an aside, that he is not suffering from a mid-life crisis, although he also tells us that he has recently started riding a motorbike. |
As Jonathan Brewster
As Dr. Einstein
As Officer O’Hara
Mike Ayris
|
Mike Ayris
Actor: La Ronde; Play
It Again Sam; Arsenic And Old
Lace; Day
After The Fair; Night Must Fall.
Michael has been with the Canterbury Players for many years, first acting
in Sailor Beware at the old Marlowe. He went on to study theatre at the
Rose Bruford College and worked professionally for a time. His love of
acting keeps him in touch with the society and he is always open to new
challenges.
|
As Lieutenant Rooney
|
Mark Charles Smith
Actor: For Canterbury Players Gosforth's
Fete; La Ronde; Fallen
Angels; The Accrington
Pals; Much Ado
About Nothing; Arsenic And Old
Lace; Dark of the Moon, Night
Must Fall; The Importance
of Being Earnest, Barefoot in
the Park.
Sound Engineer for Blue Remembered
Hills.
For Chilham Players: Seasons Greetings
For Kent Shakespeare Company: Twelfth Night.
A monologue orator for The
Penis Monologues for the theatre company, Unfinished
Business
Mark has appeared in a number of Canterbury Players productions, as
well as end of year short films at universities in Canterbury and Hastings,
as a film extra for various productions filmed in Kent including "The
Other Boleyn Girl", "Wild Child", the 2011 production of
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", as a player in a Chris Tarrant
TV programme, as a major player in a KETV
production called 'The Sea Shall Have Them' and recently took part in
a pilot for a new sitcom aimed at getting onto the UK terrestrial channels.
Mark is looking for more TV and film work to get him out of the office
once in a while.
My Facebook page.
Links to recent videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY9qcWjPomk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwE-cdMAu88 |
As Mr. Witherspoon
Geoffrey Learner, Our Chairman and actor.
|
Geoffrey Learner
Chairman (2004 - )
Actor: Much Ado About
Nothing; Arsenic And Old Lace;
Dark of the Moon
Geoffrey began his acting career as Professor Theophilus Brainwave in
a sci-fi play at his junior school in the 1930s.
After being Secretary of his college dramatic society at university,
he became a junior school teacher and over his career directed more than
twenty plays on the school stage.
|
Retiring to Canterbury in 1989, he joined the Canterbury
Dramatic Society in 1998 for a production that never reached performance.
As Secretary, he helped to bring about the reuniting of C.D.S. with
Playcraft in 2003 and established the pattern of regular performances
before the public at the Gulbenkian Theatre, the Whitstable Playhouse
and other venues.
He has appeared in seven productions of the group and directed the performance
of the play ‘597’ connected with the unveiling of the statues,
in Canterbury, of Ethelbert and Bertha by Prince Michael of Kent in May
2006. Geoffrey appeared as Signor Antonio in Much
Ado About Nothing and Mr Witherspoon in Arsenic And Old Lace.
|
As himself.
Adam Hoskins.
|
Adam Hoskins
Actor: Arsenic And Old Lace
This is Adam Hoskins' first venture on to the stage, althought not his
first public appearance. His background is in retail, where he has appeared
as a male fashion model for a well known menswear store in Canterbury.
His role here was to stand motionless in the shopwindow for hours at a
stretch, not an easy task. He apologises in advance for his rather stiff
performance in this performance, but hopes it is nonetheless effective
and well received.
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