Cross-dressers, Werewolves, & Vampires - oh, my!

The Mystery of Irma Vep

By Charles Ludlam

Directed by Spiro Veloudos, Scenic Design by Brynna Bloomfield, Costume Design by Gail Astrid Buckley, Lighting Design by Karen Perlow, Music Composed & Sound Design by Dewey Dellay, Production Stage Manager Nerys Powell, Assistant Stage Manager Cat M. Dunham

Featuring Neil A. Casey, John Kuntz

Performances through December 21 at Lyric Stage Company

Box Office 617-585-5678 or www.lyricstage.com

Neil A. Casey and John Kuntz once again exhibit their proclivity for multiple personalities for the benefit of Boston audiences in the Lyric Stage Company production of The Mystery of Irma Vep, Charles Ludlam's Obie Award-winning ode to the gothic, horror, and melodrama. In a departure from typical holiday fare, Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos brings together two of his favorite actors in one of his favorite comedies to make the season bright.

Patrons of the Lyric will fondly recall Casey's portrayal of all of the residents of Bedford Falls in This Wonderful Life, last year's Christmas offering, and the manic rendering of 40 personalities in Fully Committed Kuntz-style in 2004. While they play only eight roles between them in Irma Vep, the script requires cross-dressing, countless quick changes, off-stage dialogue, split-second timing, and great physical endurance. Veloudos and his crack team of designers deserve credit for providing the setting and tools that make it all work, along with the day-of-show contributions of Stage Manager Nerys Powell and three young women in black who perform backstage magic assisting with costume changes and props.

Employing abundant literary and cinematic references, Ludlam's play is basically a story of love which transcends death at Mandacrest, the Hillcrest estate near Hampstead Heath. Although he is still attached to his late wife Irma, Lord Edgar (Kuntz) resides there with his second wife Lady Enid (Casey), their maid Jane (Kuntz), the swineherd Nicodemus (Casey), and assorted monsters. The new Lady of the house struggles to fit in and make it her own, but is challenged by Jane's apparent loyalty to Edgar and Irma, whose portrait continues to loom above the fireplace in the library drawing room. The more Enid learns of the Lord's past, including the unfortunate death of his young son, the more unsettled she becomes. When Edgar travels to Egypt seeking the secret to Irma's grasp on him, he leaves Enid behind in a sanitarium. With the assistance of his guide Alcazar (Casey channeling Peter Lorre), Lord Edgar plumbs the depths of a tomb to find the mummy of an Egyptian princess in a sarcophagus and brings her back to Mandacrest, only adding to the strange goings-on at the estate.

The plot is a trifle thin and more than a little convoluted, but The Mystery of Irma Vep is a shining example of the genre of Charles Ludlam, the founder of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company. If you like farce, high camp, and what Variety calls "sublime silliness," then this one's for you. The real story is the inspired work of both Neil A. Casey and John Kuntz. The Lyric production succeeds because they take the project, but not themselves, seriously. Casey and Kuntz are working hard, fast, and furiously, but it is possible to see frivolity pass between them, as well as within one actor when two of his characters share a scene. Both men adopt an array of mannerisms for their multiple roles, but their female gestures and carriage are particularly noteworthy. As Lady Enid, Casey has a habit of putting the back of his hand to his mouth to express worry or horror, while Kuntz is "mistress" of the pursed lips as Jane. Unlike the usual drawing room comedy, Irma Vep is both very visual and very physical, which plays to the strengths of these two actors. At the press opening audience "talk-back," Director Veloudos commented that he would not have done this show without casting them.

Brynna Bloomfield replicates the design as called for by Ludlam in his stage directions, with oft-used French doors as the focal point upstage, a bookcase with leather bound volumes, two comfortable armchairs, and numerous masks from the Hillcrests' travels adorning the walls. Sound (Dewey Dellay) and lighting (Karen Perlow) are used effectively to create various moods, notably in the Egyptian tomb and on the night of the full moon at Mandacrest. Dellay also provides music to stir up or soothe the savage breast, as the case may be. Gail Astrid Buckley's costume designs not only evoke the class and period, but are technically rigged to allow for the necessary quick changes.

The Mystery of Irma Vep was first produced off-off-Broadway in September, 1984 by Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company and was awarded the Obie in 1985 for Ensemble Performance. In 1991, it was the most produced play in the United States and was revived off-Broadway in September, 1998 through July, 1999. Charles Ludlam died of AIDS-related pneumonia on May 28, 1987 at the age of 44. More than two decades after the play debuted, the Lyric Stage repackages it with two shining stars as a special holiday gift for Boston theatregoers.