Duns Players bring ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ to the stage

Kate Lester Lady Bracknell The Importance of being Earnest.Kate Lester Lady Bracknell The Importance of being Earnest.
Kate Lester Lady Bracknell The Importance of being Earnest.
​Duns Players are set to perform the hilarious black comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace next week, with music and chorus, and in collaboration with Duns and District Amateur Operatic Society.

In 1954, the community-based theatre group Duns Players staged its first production, a post-war comedy hit, The Happiest Days of Your Life. It was a success and there followed a new Duns Players’ production (sometimes two) every year until 1969 when falling membership, possibly compounded by a loss of stage audiences to cinema, left Duns Players in temporary suspension.

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However, in 2008, help arrived in the shape of actor, musician, writer and man-about-Duns, the late Bob Noble, who revived the group with a staging of the inimitable, Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of Macbeth.

Since then, Duns Players has grown and branched into ever more adventurous theatrical territory, from Shakespeare to world premieres, from one-act plays to musicals.

In 2023, they staged at least five separate productions, including two sellout productions Lilies on the Land and One Man, Two Guvnors, and the well-received Colonel Anne, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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This year is no exception, as the curtain opens for ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ next week.

Kate Lester is one of the many popular and experienced principal actors and plays homicidal Aunt Abby Brewster.

“I love Duns Players. It has given me the opportunity to take on some fantastic parts I could never have dreamed I would ever get the chance to play. Almost all my characters have been over the top; giving me many opportunities for over-acting! I’ve loved them all but among my favourites are long-suffering Sybil in Fawlty Towers, prissy Marie in Calendar Girls, warm and comfy Geraldine in The Vicar of Dibley, chatty Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa, imperious Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, wonderfully scatty Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, endearing Mrs Wilberforce in The Ladykillers and the evil witch in The Kings Pin.

I keep thinking each play is my swan song but they keep producing wonderful (ever-aging!) women to play.”

Arsenic and Old Lace at the Volunteer Hall Duns on October 2 – 5. Tickets: dunsplayers.org.