Tour de Farce

By R.C.

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP by Charles Ludlam

A melancholy fog shrouded the moors the night Lord Edgar brought his bride to Mandacrest. Portents of dread creaked in every dank corner of the ancient manor. The bride's sepulchral maid remained loyal beyond the grave to the first Lady Hillcrest, whose portrait was known to bleed when a stray bullet punctured the canvas. On nights when a full moon peeked through the clouds, Lord Edgar's Karloffian butler showed a disconcerting tendency to sprout wolfs hair.

And in a vault behind the bookcase, the cries of a soul in torment could be heard.

Charles Ludlam is at it again. His Ridiculous Theatrical Company, the Greenwich Village troupe that on a shoestring has rejuvenated the manly art of comic burlesque, now turns for its inspiration to the penny dreadful, a sensational form of fiction that nourished in Victorian Britain.

The Mystery of Irma Vep is a lush and loving parody of every gaslight romance from Jane Eyre to Rebecca, with glancing references to Shakespeare and Poe, to Louis Feuillade's silent-movie serials and Universal horror shows of the'30s--not to forget a side trip to the pyramids, where Lord Edgar reveals himself as an Egyptologist with a mummy fixation.

As author and director, Ludlam moves the melodrama with ferocious precision; this is high-voltage comedy, not low camp. But it is as an actor that this supernally gifted jacka-napes-of-all-trades shines brightest. All eight roles here (four male, four female) are played by Ludlam and his co-star Everett Quinton, with lightning-quick costume changes and split-personality voice throwing. Quinton as the maid skulks off stage right and 20 seconds later appears at the French doors as Lord Edgar. At the climax, Ludlam's Nicodemus struggles with Ludlam's Lady Enid--a true vaudeville tour de farce. Deft as a textbook travesty, delightful enough to take your mom (or your mummy) to, Irma Vep serves as a spiked tonic to the young theater season.

It's penny wonderful.