‘Arsenic’ has good performances but feels dated and needs more precision

What favorite American comedy takes as its themes mental illness, elder abuse and serial murder? Why, "Arsenic and Old Lace," the 1941 Joseph Kesselring chestnut about two old ladies with a body in the window seat.

This is the reliable farce about elderly sisters living in their family's longtime Brooklyn home who like to dispatch lonely old men by serving them poisoned elderberry wine. They have three nephews: Mortimer, the drama critic for a New York newspaper; Teddy, who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt; and Jonathan, who has been away for a few decades but is back after a stint in an institution for the criminally insane.

In case this isn't zany enough for you, the cast includes Mortimer's frustrated girlfriend, some policemen (mostly Irish) and Jonathan's fawning sidekick, Dr. Einstein, who's planning to give the hideously scarred murderer yet another new face.

The play is 68 years old, and it shows. Some of the cultural references are so ancient that they aren't funny anymore -- jokes about William Howard Taft and Judith Anderson fall flat. And why would a cop who was born in Sioux City, Iowa, have a thick Irish brogue? But the theater critic jokes are still chuckle-worthy.

There are some sharp performances from the cast of fourteen under Tom Width's direction. Richard Koch is dependably funny as dyspeptic Mortimer, with his eye-popping, hysterical manner. Michael Hawke is terrific as the menacing Jonathan, repeatedly mistaken for Boris Karloff, to his continual dismay. John Maddox's Teddy is an energetic buffoon, charging up the stairs as if they were San Juan Hill, and John Hagadorn channels Peter Lorre as the sniveling Dr. Einstein.

Jolene Carroll and Jacqueline Jones play the old ladies with the requisite nutty charm, but Carroll gives a ragged performance, muffing lines and stepping on laughs. While Width moves the action fluidly on his perfect period set, it gets repetitive when dialogues are staged with characters talking nose to nose. Maura Lynch Cravey's costumes and Joe Doran's lighting are fine, but lighting cues were flubbed on opening night.

If you like your summer fare light, it doesn't get much lighter than this. Still, even farce -- especially farce -- works best when it's rendered with precision, and this "Arsenic" is less precise than it should be.

Susan Haubenstock is a freelance writer and editor based in Henrico County. Contact her at .