Arsenic and Old Lace is such a strong play, with so many hilarious moments, that it is not surprising that this is a staple of local theaters and high school drama groups. Much of the play involves sight gags, contretemps, and weird characters behaving outrageously. Careful delivery of lines and subtlety of gesture are far less important here than the high- speed action, over-the-top characterizations, and split second timing of entrances and exits. One of the funniest and most often performed plays of American theater, Arsenic and Old Lace is as delightful in the twenty-first century as it was when it was first performed in 1941. The frantic action, the ironies, the comic routines, and the dramatic surprises all center around two bodies, hidden at various times in the window seat of the living room, and the reactions to them by the various people within the household. The local police, friends of Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha, stop by to chat have coffee and protect these 'sweet' old ladies often at the worst possible moments, while Mortimer tries to decide what to do about his strange family and the bodies in the house