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The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful

 

From left to right Robert Sella, Arnie Burton, Robert Sella and Arnie Burton (the last two in drag)

                                                                          Photos by Carol Rosegg

 

The Mystery of Irma Vep:  A Penny Dreadful

By Joel Benjamin

Charles Ludlam was a leading light of the campy, avant-garde, gay-centric theater scene during the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s when off-off-Broadway was leading the way with its dime-store, let’s-put-on-a-show production values that cannibalized everything from pop culture to Shakespeare and the ancient Greek classics.   As director of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, headquartered in the heart of Greenwich Village, he wrote, acted in and directed many plays that pilloried middleclass entertainments.  The Mystery of Irma Vep:  A Penny Dreadful from 1984 is classic Ludlam, a mishmash of Hollywood films (notably “Rebecca,” vampire, mummy and werewolf monster movies and the Sherlock Holmes canon) and the popular Victorian literary form called “penny dreadfuls” which were cheap and featured improbably sensational plots. 

 

A production of the estimable Red Bull Theater, The Mystery of Irma Vep at the Lucille Lortel Theater—appropriately in the Village—is a first rate revival of a first rate farce, one of Ludlam’s best, made even more authentic by being directed by one of the original actors, Everett Quinton (Ludlam’s professional and personal partner). 

 

 

What elevates Irma Vep is the inspired gimmick of having all the characters played by just two actors—originally Ludlam and Quinton—whose split-second costume changes are part of the fun.  Arnie Burton (39 Steps, which also featured multiple costume changes) and Robert Sella (My Fair Lady & Cabaret) are brilliant.  They play the housekeeper, Jane Twisden (Sella), the groundsman Nicodemus Underwood (Burton) as well as the new mistress of Mandacrest, Lady Enid (Burton), her husband Lord Edgar Hillcrest (Sella).  Also on the cast list are the exotic Egyptian tomb guide Alcazar and Pev Amri (an anagram of Irma Vep which is an anagram of “vampire”).  Does Irma Vep appear?  You’d have to be there to find out. 

 

The play takes place “between the wars” in “Mandacrest, the Hillcrest Estate near Hampstead Heath, and Egypt”!  Mandacrest is clearly a fill-in for Manderley of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, but mostly the Manderley of Hitchcock’s 1940 film.  Irma, seen in an ominous portrait which sometimes bleeds, still holds sway at Mandacrest, helped by the machinations of Jane.  There are bizarre intimations of werewolves, vampires.    In a trip to Egypt Lord Edgar encounters Alcazar, he of indeterminate accent (Burton) who helps Lord Edgar find the ancient mummy, Pev Amri (Burton) whose “Egyptian” dance alone is worth the price of admission. 

 

Every shtick is milked endlessly and hilariously.  The witty references to films and Shakespeare come fast a furiously, with astounding costume changes happening in what seems to be mid-sentence.  At one point, one of the actors actually does battle with himself…as two different people!  Certainly Everett Quinton’s inside knowledge of the logistics of playing these roles must have come in handy.  Arnie Burton and Robert Sella were delightfully hammy.

 

The show is simply a fun evening that can be taken in many ways:  as a clever cultural commentary; a sophisticated, tongue-in-cheek parody; or a display of the talents of two wonderful actors who turn themselves inside out to please.

 

The scenic designs by John Arnone are part of the fun.  Ramona Ponce, the costume designer, must have stockpiled ninety-percent of the Velcro in the New York area.  These outfits, plus Aaron Kinchen’s wigs make the actors’ efforts pay off.  Peter West’s lighting design is a work of art, providing dramatic shadows, lightening effects and a great ambience.

 

The Mystery of Irma Vep:  A Penny Dreadful (through May 11, 2014)

Red Bull Theater

Lucille Lortel Theater

121 Christopher St. (between Bleecker St. & Hudson St.)

New York, NY

Tickets and Information:  212-352-3101 or www.redbulltheater.com

Running Time:  Two hours with one intermission