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Play Guide [2.6MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

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<strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong><br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 1


CONTENTS SPONSORS<br />

TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />

3 WHO WE ARE<br />

4 ABOUT THE PLAY<br />

4 THE CHARACTERS<br />

5 SYNOPSIS<br />

5 CHARLES LUDLAM<br />

9 ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

10 THE RIDICULOUS THEATRICAL COMPANY<br />

12 THE PENNY DREADFUL<br />

17 ALLUSIONS IN THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

19 REBECCA<br />

21 DESIGNING A HAUNTED HOUSE<br />

27 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

It is <strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>’s goal to share the enriching experience of live theatre. This play guide is<br />

intended to help you prepare for your visit to <strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>. Should you have comments or<br />

suggestions regarding the play guide, or if you need more information about scheduling trips to see an ATC<br />

production, please feel free to contact us:<br />

Tucson: Jeana Whitaker<br />

Education Manager<br />

(520)884-8210 ext 8506<br />

(520)628-9129 fax<br />

Phoenix: Cale Epps<br />

Education Manager<br />

(602)256-6899 ext 6503<br />

(602)256-7399 fax<br />

Lost in Yonkers <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> compiled and written by Jennifer Bazzell, Literary Manager. Discussion questions<br />

and activities prepared by Jeana Whitaker, Tucson Education Manager, Cale Epps, Phoenix Education<br />

Manager and Gary Edwards, Phoenix Education Associate. Layout by Gabriel Armijo.<br />

Support for ATC’s Education and Community Programming has been provided by:<br />

Organizations<br />

Amerson Surveying<br />

APS<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> Commission on the Arts<br />

Bank of America Foundation<br />

Blue Cross Blue Shield of <strong>Arizona</strong><br />

City Of Glendale<br />

City Of Peoria<br />

Community Foundation for Southern <strong>Arizona</strong><br />

Ford Motor <strong>Company</strong> Fund<br />

JP Morgan CHASE<br />

National Endowment for the Arts<br />

Phoenix Offi ce of Arts and Culture<br />

PICOR Charitable Foundation<br />

Scottsdale League for the Arts<br />

Target<br />

The Boeing <strong>Company</strong><br />

The Marshall Foundation<br />

The Johnson Family Foundation, Inc.<br />

The David C. and Lura M. Lovell Foundation<br />

The Hearst Foundation, Inc.<br />

The Maurice and Meta Gross Foundation<br />

The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation<br />

The Stocker Foundation<br />

The Stonewall Foundation<br />

Tucson Electric Power <strong>Company</strong><br />

Tucson Pima Arts Council<br />

Union Pacifi c Foundation<br />

Phoenix Suns Charity<br />

Individuals<br />

Mr. Craig Altschul<br />

Jessica Andrews and Timothy W. Toothman<br />

Anonymous (1)<br />

Mr. and Ms. Barry Baker<br />

Ms. Beth A. Bank<br />

Mr. Robert Begam<br />

Ms. Gayle Bentley<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Joel Bez<br />

Ms. Denise Birger<br />

Ann and Neal Blackmarr<br />

Mr. Tom Bobo<br />

Ms. Gayle Brezack<br />

Mr. Tom Carlson<br />

Shirley J. Chann<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Clark<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Tyrone Clark<br />

Mr. Thomas Chapman<br />

Ms. Mimi Cohen<br />

Jan Copeland<br />

Ms. Kathleen Cummings<br />

Mr. and Mrs. James Darling<br />

Mr. Craig Dean<br />

Mr. Larry Deutsch and Mr. William Parker<br />

Mr. Jim DeGirolamo<br />

Ms. Jill Doddy<br />

Mr. Jerry D. Drossos<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Dusenberry<br />

Edward and Barbara Farmilant<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Burton and Zelda Faigen<br />

Mr. Peter Faur<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Eric Freedberg<br />

Mr. Patric Giclas and Mrs. Gail Giclas<br />

Ms. Florence M. Goldwater<br />

Dr. Mary Jo Ghory<br />

Ms. Laura Grafman<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Jon Grasse<br />

Mr. Greg B. Hales<br />

Ms. Megan Hilty<br />

Mr. Bill Kelley<br />

Ms. Rebecca Winninger<br />

Mr. Rich and Kraemer<br />

Ms. Moniqua Lane<br />

Mr. Raul Leon<br />

Mrs. Ann C. Lynn<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Doug McClure<br />

Mr. and Mrs. James J. Meenaghan<br />

Ms. Thelma Miller<br />

Ms. Barbara Montandon<br />

Kevin Moore and Michael Porto<br />

Mr. and Mrs. Fred A. Nachman III<br />

Ms. Linda Pedrigi<br />

Mr. Bryan Perri<br />

Ms. Dana Pitt, Donald Pitt Family Foundation<br />

Robert Present<br />

Mr. Michael Ratliff<br />

Steve Ratliff<br />

Vicki Ratliff<br />

Susan Rollins<br />

Ms. Dina Romero<br />

Ms. Karen T. Scates<br />

Drs. John and Helen Schaefer<br />

Mr. and Ms. Mark and Amy Schiavoni<br />

Mr. and Ms. Michael and Enid Seiden<br />

Maurice and Shirley Sevigny<br />

Ms. Peggi Simmons<br />

Ms. Wendi Sorensen<br />

Mr. and Mrs Robert Stowe<br />

Ms. Val Sundberg<br />

Ms. Janet Traylor<br />

Mr. Brad Trebing<br />

Mr. Chuck Watson<br />

Ronald and Mary Weinstein<br />

Mr. Tom Whalen<br />

Ms. Mary White<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> Mr. Brian Hauser<br />

2


WHO WE ARE<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> is a professional, not-for-profi t theatre company.<br />

This means all of our artists, administrators and production staff are paid<br />

professionals, and the income we receive from ticket sales and contributions<br />

goes right back into our budget to create our work, rather than to any particular<br />

person as a profi t.<br />

Roughly 150,000 people attend our<br />

shows every year, and several thousands<br />

of those people support us with charitable<br />

contributions in addition to purchasing<br />

their tickets. Businesses large and small,<br />

private foundations and the city and<br />

state governments also support our<br />

work fi nancially.<br />

Each season, ATC employs hundreds of actors,<br />

directors and designers from all over the country<br />

to create the work you see on stage. In addition,<br />

ATC currently employs about 100 staff members<br />

in our production shops and administrative offi ces<br />

in Tucson and Phoenix during our season. Among<br />

these people are carpenters, painters, marketing<br />

professionals, fundraisers, stage directors, computer<br />

specialists, sound and light board operators, tailors,<br />

costume designers, box offi ce agents, stage crew<br />

-the list is endless- representing an amazing range<br />

of talents and skills.<br />

We are also supported by a Board of Trustees, a<br />

group of business and community leaders who<br />

volunteer their time and expertise to assist the<br />

theatre in fi nancial and legal matters, advise in<br />

marketing and fundraising, and help represent<br />

the theatre in our community.<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY: WHO WE ARE<br />

Thousands of people make our work at ATC possible!<br />

Herberger <strong>Theatre</strong> in Phoenix, <strong>Arizona</strong><br />

All of this is in support of our mission: to<br />

create professional theatre that continually<br />

strives to reach new levels of artistic<br />

Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, <strong>Arizona</strong><br />

excellence and that resonates locally, in the state of <strong>Arizona</strong> and throughout the<br />

nation. In order to fulfi ll its mission, the theatre produces a broad repertoire ranging<br />

from classics to new works, engages artists of the highest caliber, and is committed to<br />

assuring access to the broadest spectrum of citizens.<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 3


THE PLAY<br />

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

ABOUT THE PLAY<br />

"This will be the fourth time I have directed IRMA VEP over the last 25 years. I<br />

always have a blast revisiting this material because it is a such a rich playground<br />

for actors and designers. We'll approach it with a sense of play - and hopefully a<br />

minimum of reverence!" – David Ira Goldstein, director of ATC’s<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

Audiences laughed until they couldn't breathe<br />

when we produced this virtuoso quickchange<br />

horror story a dozen years ago. You<br />

asked for it—so we're bringing it all back<br />

to endanger your funny bone again! Two<br />

lightning-fast actors portray all the residents<br />

of the Mandacrest estate—as well as a host<br />

of vampires, werewolves, mummies and<br />

things that go bump in the night—who travel<br />

from the moors of England to the tombs of<br />

Egypt and back again. With Gothic plot turns<br />

thrown out like thumbtacks in the road,<br />

along with a stage full of outrageous sets and<br />

costumes, Irma Vep will keep you in stitches<br />

right up until the fi nal twist.<br />

THE CHARACTERS<br />

“Concerning a couple of rumors: It is true I really wanted to do this<br />

show again because of the brilliant script by Charles Ludlam and<br />

the opportunity to work with Ollie in a show that makes<br />

audiences go crazy! It is not true that I really wanted to do<br />

this show because secretly I like putting on a dress 37 times<br />

in two hours!” – Bob Sorenson, actor in ATC’s<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

R. Hamilton Wright and Bob Sorenson in <strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong><br />

<strong>Company</strong>’s 1999 production of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Photo<br />

by Tim Fuller/<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>.<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong><br />

Actor Bob Sorenson who appears in<br />

ATC’s production of The Mystery of<br />

Irma Vep<br />

4


CHARACTERS<br />

SYNOPSIS<br />

Jane Twisden: The maid. Jane expresses complete loyalty to her former mistress<br />

(employer) Lady Irma Vep and cannot stand Nicodemus.<br />

Nicodemus: The grounds man. He has a peg leg and a cockney accent.<br />

Lady Enid: The current lady of Mandacrest. She is<br />

Lord Edgar’s second wife and a former actress.<br />

Lord Edgar: The lord of the manor. He is an<br />

Egyptologist. He is haunted by the memory of his<br />

fi rst wife, Irma Vep.<br />

Alcazar: An Egyptian guide.<br />

Pev Amri: An Egyptian princess and mummy.<br />

An Intruder: An intruder.<br />

Irma Vep: ????<br />

SYNOPSIS<br />

In a remote manor called Mandacrest, something is<br />

amiss. Between a wolf on the loose attacking people<br />

and the looming presence of the recently deceased<br />

former mistress Irma Vep, Lord Edgar and his new wife,<br />

Lady Enid, are having a rough time. Add to that the fact<br />

that the maid, Jane, is utterly devoted to the memory<br />

of her former mistress and Nicodemus, the grounds<br />

man, has a little problem that won’t quite go away.<br />

With a trip to Egypt, a mummifi ed princess who comes<br />

to life and a vampire thrown in for good measure, you<br />

have a hysterical good-time play with eight characters<br />

performed by only two actors.<br />

R. Hamilton Wright and Bob Sorenson in<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>’s 1999 production<br />

of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Photo by Tim<br />

Fuller/<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>.<br />

Actor Oliver Wadsworth who<br />

appears in ATC’s production of<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 5


LUDLAM<br />

R. Hamilton Wright and Bob Sorenson in<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>’s 1999 production<br />

of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Photo by Tim<br />

Fuller/<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>.<br />

CHARLES LUDLAM<br />

<strong>Play</strong>wright Charles Ludlam<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

I sometimes think that the Ridiculous is the only serious theatre. After all,<br />

everywhere you look in this world there’s something that’s ridiculous. It’s<br />

important to help people see that. I often think all theatre is ridiculous, but we’re<br />

willing to admit it. —Charles Ludlam, from Confessions of a Farceur<br />

Actor, director, playwright and set designer Charles<br />

Ludlam spent twenty years with New York’s Ridiculous<br />

Theatrical <strong>Company</strong>. The theatre’s goal was to synthesize<br />

many forms (parody, vaudeville, farce, melodrama,<br />

satire) to create a modern American comic theatre.<br />

Charles Ludlam was born on April 12, 1943, in Floral<br />

Park, New York, the second of Joseph William Ludlam<br />

and Marjorie Braun’s three children. His fi rst encounter<br />

with the theatre took place when he was six at the<br />

Minnesota State Fair, where he saw a Punch and Judy<br />

puppet show and a “freak” show. This early exposure<br />

to exaggerated theatre forms seems to have infl uenced<br />

his entire theatrical career. Among his other early<br />

infl uences, Ludlam counted the movies and the Catholic<br />

Church.<br />

“I love Gothic Horror. I was in Dracula, now<br />

playing for its second decade, at Actors <strong>Theatre</strong> of<br />

Louisville. The audience would pack the theatre<br />

every night to collectively scream in terror. As<br />

I work on The Mystery of Irma Vep, Ludlam's<br />

great spoof of Dracula, Wuthering Heights, The<br />

Wolfman, Gaslight, The Mummy, and many more,<br />

I fi nd myself screaming often, not in terror but<br />

with laughter. – Oliver Wadsworth, actor in ATC’s<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 6


LUDLAM<br />

Costume rendering for The<br />

Mystery of Irma Vep by<br />

designer David K. Mickelsen<br />

By age seven, Ludlam was writing and staging plays in<br />

his backyard and at his grade school. Beginning at an<br />

early age, the playwright was a rebel and an outcast, not<br />

fi tting in well with the other young people in high school.<br />

In 1958, he won an apprenticeship at a local summer<br />

stock company and by the age of 17 had founded his fi rst<br />

theatre company.<br />

“God, if I hadn’t discovered theater early on, I<br />

would almost certainly have become a juvenile<br />

delinquent.” – Charles Ludlam<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

He matriculated at Hofstra University in 1961 where he was considered an outrageous character.<br />

While he attended Hofstra, Ludlam began to spend most of his time in Manhattan and became<br />

well acquainted with New York City’s Off-Off-Broadway theatre.<br />

In the mid-sixties, he began his lifelong association with the theatre that was then known as the<br />

<strong>Play</strong>house of the Ridiculous. He acted, directed, and did set design and construction; his fi rst<br />

play, Big Hotel, was produced there in 1965. During the next 22 years, all of his plays were<br />

produced at the theatre, which was re-named The Ridiculous Theatrical <strong>Company</strong>; eventually<br />

Ludlam became the company’s Artistic Director.<br />

Charles Ludlam was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986. He died of that disease on May 28, 1987 at<br />

the age of 44. His plays have since been produced throughout the world.<br />

-written by Toni Press-Coffman for ATC’s original Study <strong>Guide</strong> for The Mystery of Irma Vep in the 1999-2000 season<br />

The <strong>Play</strong>s of Charles Ludlam<br />

Big Hotel<br />

Conquest of the Universe<br />

Turds in Hell<br />

The Grand Tarot<br />

Bluebeard<br />

Eunuchs of the Forbidden City<br />

Corn<br />

Camille<br />

Hotel Ice<br />

Stage Blood<br />

Jack and the Beanstalk<br />

Isle of the Hermaphrodites<br />

Caprice<br />

Der Ring Gott Farblonjet<br />

The Ventriloquist’s Wife<br />

Utopia, Incorporated<br />

The Enchanted Pig<br />

A Christmas Carol<br />

Reverse Psychology<br />

Love’s Tangled Web<br />

Secret Lives of the Sexists<br />

Exquisite Torture<br />

Le Bourgeois Avant-Garde<br />

Galas<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

Medea<br />

How to Write a <strong>Play</strong><br />

Salammbo<br />

The Artifi cial Jungle<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 7


IRMA VEP<br />

ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

Written in 1984, Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of<br />

Irma Vep defi es classifi cation. The play premiered at<br />

the Ridiculous Theatrical <strong>Company</strong> when Ludlam was<br />

Artistic Director. As the theatre’s name indicates, that<br />

company produced plays that did not take themselves<br />

seriously. The theatre’s “manifesto” makes it clear that<br />

there is no subject or theatrical form above being<br />

lampooned. The Mystery of Irma Vep is a hilariously<br />

funny play that combines several theatrical forms. All<br />

of the play’s characters are performed by two actors.<br />

In fact, the play is often referred to as “a quick change<br />

act.”<br />

Ludlam called his play “A Penny Dreadful.” This<br />

theatrical form was popular in Victorian England. Penny<br />

Dreadfuls are plays that we might now call Gothic<br />

Horrors. In these plays, the action takes place amidst<br />

a feeling of dread. The characters sense that something<br />

is terribly wrong, that some horrible thing is about to<br />

happen, but for most of the play, they cannot fi gure<br />

out what it is. The Mystery of Irma Vep incorporates this<br />

feeling of dread and satirizes (makes fun of) it. The play<br />

Costume rendering for The Mystery of Irma<br />

Vep by designer David K. Mickelsen<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

introduces this dread feeling immediately and comically. One of the characters, Nicodemus,<br />

has a wooden leg. In the play’s opening scene, he has the following conversation with Jane, the<br />

housekeeper:<br />

JANE: And don’t clump so with that wooden leg. You’ll wake Lady Enid.<br />

NICODEMUS: And wasn’t it to save Lord Edgar from the wolf that me leg got<br />

mangled so? I should think she’d be glad to hear me clump after what I did<br />

for him.<br />

JANE: That was a long time ago. Lady Enid doesn’t know anything about it.<br />

NICODEMUS: She’ll fi nd out soon enough.<br />

This dialogue introduces the mystery immediately and foreshadows the fact that the events<br />

that led to Nicodemus’s losing his leg are dreadful and horrible and will continue to<br />

plague the characters. But Ludlam’s choice of language lets us know at once that, rather<br />

than trying to really scare us, the play is intended to be a spoof of a “penny dreadful.”<br />

Instead of saying simply that Lady Enid will be grateful to him for saving Lord Edgar, he<br />

says, “ I should think she’d be glad to hear me clump…”<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 8


IRMA VEP<br />

Costume rendering for The Mystery of Irma<br />

Vep by designer David K. Mickelsen<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

The play is also a spoof of the classic mystery novel and<br />

movie Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. The Rebecca<br />

of the title is the dead wife of the man who lives in a<br />

mansion called Manderlay. The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

is also set in a large estate called Mandacrest, making<br />

the author’s intention to spoof Rebecca clear. As in<br />

Rebecca, the master of the house has re-married, but<br />

reminders of his former wife, Irma Vep, are everywhere<br />

in the house. The set description indicates that there is “a<br />

fi replace with a mantel over which is a portrait of Lady<br />

Irma in her bloom.” Like the housekeeper in Rebecca,<br />

Jane is devoted to her former mistress and refuses to<br />

accept Lady Enid. And like Rebecca, Irma Vep died by<br />

drowning. Once again, Ludlam makes it clear that Irma<br />

Vep’s brooding presence is not to be taken seriously.<br />

JANE: I don’t think Lady Enid will ever make a fi t mistress for Mandacrest.<br />

NICODEMUS: And why not?<br />

JANE: She’s so, so – common. She’ll never live up to the high standard set by Lady<br />

Irma.<br />

NICODEMUS: That my girl is not for you or me to decide.<br />

JANE: I can’t stand the thought of taking orders from that vulgarian.<br />

NICODEMUS: Come come, I won’t have you talking that way about Lady Enid.<br />

JANE: Lady Irma had a commanding presence and her manners were impeccable.<br />

Jane does not discuss Irma’s character or say that Irma was good and generous to her – rather,<br />

her devotion to her former mistress is based on the fact that Lady Irma had good manners!<br />

While the seeds of a mystery are set early on – how and why did Nicodemus save Lord Edgar?<br />

Will Lady Irma haunt Mandacrest? How did Lord Edgar’s son die? The play also contains<br />

exaggerated elements of gothic horror stories. For example, a storm rages at certain times in<br />

the play in order to enhance the “gothic” effect. In addition to playing people, the actors play a<br />

mummy, a ghostly intruder, and a werewolf.<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep also contains elements of melodrama, which can be defi ned as<br />

an exaggerated drama. In melodrama, characters use exaggerated language, and small<br />

occurrences are treated as though they were major catastrophes. Melodramas were among<br />

the fi rst kinds of plays performed in the United States beginning in the late eighteenth century.<br />

As the theatre in the United States evolved, realistic drama replaced melodrama. In realistic<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 9


IRMA VEP<br />

dramas, characters’ reactions to the play’s events refl ect the<br />

way people handle events, even tragic ones, in real life. As<br />

a result, melodramatic theatre now seems absurd; in the<br />

contemporary theatre, melodrama has become a comic<br />

form.<br />

An example of Ludlam’s use of melodrama to comic<br />

effect is when Lady Enid unknowingly puts on a dress that<br />

belonged to Lady Irma. Lord Edgar sees her wearing the<br />

dress.<br />

LORD EDGAR: Where did you get that dress?<br />

LADY ENID: Do you like it?<br />

LORD EDGAR: Like it? I hate it! I despise it! I loathe it!<br />

Take it off! Take it off!<br />

LADY ENID: But Edgar! I only wanted to please you!<br />

LORD EDGAR: Please me? You wanted to torture me! You<br />

wanted to make me suffer! I’ll never forgive<br />

you for this, Enid. Never!<br />

LADY ENID: But Edgar! I only wanted to be nearer to you!<br />

LORD EDGAR: You’ve only driven me further away. I’d<br />

rather see you locked away in rags in the<br />

deepest darkest dungeon I could fi nd than<br />

see you in that dress!<br />

LADY ENID: No!<br />

LADY EDGAR: Take it off, I said! You’re making me hate you!<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

Costume rendering for The Mystery of Irma<br />

Vep by designer David K. Mickelsen<br />

In real life, a man might indeed become upset if his wife wore a dress that had belonged to his<br />

beloved, now dead, fi rst wife. However, he would not be likely to tell her that he would like to see<br />

her locked up in a dungeon, that she was torturing him, or that she was making him hate her. This<br />

exaggerated language is melodramatic and makes this scene, rather than being realistically sad,<br />

extremely funny.<br />

Ludlam also makes us laugh simply by his witty use of language. The beginning of the second act<br />

of The Mystery of Irma Vep takes place in Egypt at the tomb of a mummy. In this act, the characters<br />

often speak in made-up archeologist jargon (Lord Edgar’s profession is “Egyptologist.”) At one point,<br />

Lord Edgar plays a love scene with a mummy, who speaks to him in ancient Egyptian. In these<br />

sequences, Ludlam makes the most of the funny ways that words put together in a certain way can<br />

sound, understanding that simply the sound of certain words can make people laugh.<br />

Finally, The Mystery of Irma Vep has some elements of farce. Physical comedy plays an important<br />

part in farce, as does quick action with all the characters entering and exiting frequently, slamming<br />

doors, falling down, and bumping into each other. Since two actors play so many characters, there<br />

are many sequences in which these farcical elements come into play.<br />

-written by Toni Press-Coffman for ATC’s original Study <strong>Guide</strong> for The Mystery of Irma Vep in the 1999-2000 season<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 10


IRMA VEP MANIFESTO<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

A Quick Change Act<br />

The characters in The Mystery of Irma Vep include Lord Edgar and Lady Enid, the master and<br />

mistress of Mandacrest; Jane and Nicodemus, the people who work at Mandacrest; Irma<br />

Vep, Lord Edgar’s fi rst wife; a tour guide named Alcazar; a ghostly intruder; and a mummy. In<br />

addition to this, Nicodemus has a wooden leg which is torn off during the play; later in the<br />

play, one of the characters turns into a wolf. Since these characters (and ghosts, monsters,<br />

and animals) are all played by two actors, the play provides a big challenge to the director, the<br />

actors, and the costume designer.<br />

Following the script of the play, there are many notes added by the original production’s<br />

costume designer. The fi rst sentence of these notes is “We chose the 1890’s as the period, as<br />

we needed long skirts to cover the underdressed costumes.” It would be impossible for the<br />

actors to make the changes they need to make unless they wore more than one costume at<br />

one time. That way, they can go offstage and take off the top costume and be ready in a matter<br />

of seconds to come back on stage as another person. Needless to say, these quick changes<br />

are made possible by the use of wigs and a lot of Velcro. (Interestingly, the original costume<br />

designer warns future designers not to use Velcro in a continuous strip because it will cause<br />

the costumes to bulge! Rather, the costumers suggests that Velcro be used in separate 3-inch<br />

strips). The original designer even included boots and shoes that could be worn by both male<br />

and female characters.<br />

-written by Toni Press-Coffman for ATC’s original Study <strong>Guide</strong> for The Mystery of Irma Vep in the 1999-2000 season<br />

THE RIDICULOUS THEATRICAL COMPANY<br />

The Manifesto of the Ridiculous Theatrical <strong>Company</strong><br />

Written by Charles Ludlam<br />

1. You are a living mockery of your own ideals. If not, you<br />

have set your ideals too low.<br />

2. The things one takes seriously are one’s weaknesses.<br />

3. Just as many people who claim a belief in God disprove<br />

it with their every act, so too there are those whose every<br />

deed, though they say there is no God, is an act of faith.<br />

4. Evolution is a conscious process.<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong><br />

Costume rendering for The Mystery of<br />

Irma Vep by designer David K. Mickelsen<br />

11


PENNY<br />

5. Bathos is that which is intended to be sorrowful but because of the extremity<br />

of its expression becomes comic. Pathos is that which is meant to be comic but<br />

because of the extremity of the expression becomes sorrowful. Some things<br />

which seem to be opposites are actually different degrees of the same thing.<br />

6. The comic hero thrives by his vices. The tragic hero is destroyed by his virtue.<br />

Moral paradox is the crux of drama.<br />

7. The theater is a humble materialist enterprise which seeks to produce riches of<br />

the imagination, not the other way around. The theater is an event and not an<br />

object. Theater workers need not blush and conceal their desperate struggle to<br />

pay the landlords their rents.<br />

THE PENNY DREADFUL<br />

A “penny dreadful” was a type of British fi ction publication in<br />

the nineteenth century that usually featured lurid serial stories<br />

appearing in parts over a number of weeks, each part costing<br />

a penny. The term, however, soon came to encompass a<br />

variety of publications that featured cheap sensational fi ction,<br />

such as story papers and booklet “libraries.” The penny<br />

dreadful was printed on cheap pulp paper and was aimed<br />

primarily at working class adolescents.<br />

These serials started in the 1830s, originally as a cheaper<br />

alternative to mainstream fi ctional works, such as those by<br />

Charles Dickens (which cost a shilling, or twelve pennies),<br />

for working class adults, but by the 1850s the serial stories<br />

were aimed exclusively at teenagers. The stories themselves<br />

were reprints or sometimes rewrites of Gothic thrillers such<br />

as The Monk or The Castle of Otranto, as well as new stories<br />

about famous criminals. Some of the most famous of these<br />

penny stories were The String of Peals: A Romance (which<br />

introduced Sweeney Todd), The Mysteries of London (inspired<br />

by the French serial, The Mysteries of Paris) and Varney the<br />

Vampire.<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

An example of a Penny Dreadful<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 12


PENNY ALLUSIONS<br />

Working class boys who could not afford a penny a week often formed clubs that would<br />

share the cost, passing the fl imsy booklets from reader to reader. Other enterprising young<br />

people would collect a number of consecutive parts and then rent the volume out to<br />

friends.<br />

In 1866, Boys of England was introduced as a new type of publication, an eight-page<br />

magazine that featured serial stories as well as articles and shorts of interest. It was printed<br />

on the same cheap paper, though sporting a larger format than the penny parts.<br />

Numerous competitors quickly followed, with such titles as Boy’s Leisure Hour, Boys<br />

Standard, Young Men of Great Britain, etc. As the price and quality of the fi ction was the<br />

same, these also fell under the defi nition of penny dreadfuls.<br />

-from www.wikipedia.com<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

ALLUSIONS IN THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep is littered with references (or allusions) to other well-known works.<br />

Three of them are listed below; see if you can spot others when you see the show!<br />

HAMLET (play) by William Shakespeare<br />

Background: Universally regarded as one of the most important works in literature in Western<br />

drama, deemed by T.S. Eliot an “artistic failure,” it received<br />

its fi rst performance sometime around 1602 by the Lord<br />

Chamberlain’s Men with Shakespeare starring as the Ghost.<br />

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

Lord Edgar:<br />

From his fair and unpolluted fl esh May violets spring.<br />

Lord Edgar:<br />

Enid, there are more things on heaven and earth than are<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 13


ALLUSIONS<br />

dreamed of in our philosophies!<br />

HAMLET<br />

Laertes:<br />

Lay her in the earth, And from her fair and<br />

Unpolluted fl esh May violets spring.<br />

Hamlet:<br />

There are more things in heaven and earth,<br />

Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.<br />

THE MUMMY (fi lm) by Karl Fruend<br />

Background: Karl Freund’s 1932 fi lm The Mummy<br />

invented a new role for horror star Boris Karloff,<br />

who had starred as the monster in Frankenstein<br />

the previous year. Inspired by the 1922 discovery<br />

of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the fi lm tells the story of<br />

Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest mummifi ed<br />

alive who is accidentally resurrected by<br />

archaeologists in modern times. Disguising himself<br />

as a modern Egyptian named Ardath Bey, Imhotep<br />

uses the Scroll of Toth to help him resurrent the soul<br />

of his ancient lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon.<br />

THE ALLUSION: Lord Edgar is not only landed<br />

gentry but an accomplished Egyptologist and<br />

sarcophologist. Accompanied by Alcazar, a suspicious guide, he goes to Cairo to<br />

unearth the tomb of Egyptian princess Pev Amri.<br />

GHOSTS (play) by Henrik Ibsen<br />

Background: First performed in 1882, Ghosts is Henrik Ibsen’s commentary on<br />

nineteenth-century morality, full of secrets, philandering and madness.<br />

THE ALLUSION: Ludlam begins Irma Vep by paraphrasing the fi rst three lines of<br />

Ghosts. Observe the comparison:<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 14


ALLUSIONS<br />

THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

Jane:<br />

Watch what you’re doing! Your’re soaking wet! Don’t<br />

track mud in here!<br />

Nicodemus:<br />

It’s God’s good rain, my girl!<br />

Jane:<br />

It’s the devil’s rain, that’s what it is!<br />

GHOSTS<br />

Regina:<br />

What do you want? Stay where you are, you’re dripping wet!<br />

Engstrand:<br />

It’s God’s good rain, my girl.<br />

Regina:<br />

It’s the devil’s rain, that’s what it is!<br />

REBECCA<br />

-Reprinted wither permission from the Court <strong>Theatre</strong>'s play guide for The Mystery of Irma Vep.<br />

One of the primary infl uences on THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP<br />

is Alfred Hitchcock’s fi lm version of the 1938 novel Rebecca<br />

and Charlotte Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Read the summary<br />

and see if you can fi nd where Ludlam references Rebecca!<br />

Summary of Rebecca (Warning! Spoiler alert!)<br />

The fi lm begins with a voiceover of a woman speaking the fi rst<br />

lines from the novel: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley<br />

again," to the images of a ruined country manor [in IRMA VEP<br />

the name of the house is Mandacrest]. She continues that she<br />

can never return to Manderley — as it no longer exists, except<br />

as a ruin. Joan Fontaine plays a young woman (who is never<br />

named), an orphan, who works as a paid companion to the<br />

wealthy Edythe Van Hopper (Florence Bates). In Monte Carlo,<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

A scene from a 1985 production<br />

of Ghosts in Berlin<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 15


REBECCA<br />

she meets the aristocratic widower Maximilian (Maxim)<br />

de Winter (Laurence Olivier) and they fall in love. Within<br />

weeks, they decide to get married.<br />

Maxim takes his new bride to Manderley his country<br />

house in Cornwall, England. The servants accept the<br />

new Mrs. de Winter as the new lady of the house. The<br />

exception is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith<br />

Anderson), who is particularly unpleasant to the<br />

new bride. She is still obsessed with the beauty and<br />

sophistication of the fi rst Mrs. de Winter -- the eponymous<br />

Rebecca -- and preserves her former bedroom as a shrine,<br />

even cherishing her handmade underwear and expensive<br />

négligée. Rebecca's "cousin" Jack (George Sanders) (who,<br />

as we only discover later, was in fact one of her lovers)<br />

appears at the house when Maxim is away, and evidently<br />

knows Mrs. Danvers well, calling her by the name<br />

"Danny", which was Rebecca's pet name for her.<br />

The new Mrs. de Winter is intimidated by Mrs. Danvers and by the responsibilities of being<br />

the new mistress of Manderley. As a result, she begins to doubt her relationship with her<br />

husband. The continuous presence of Rebecca in the house starts to haunt her, and she<br />

convinces herself that Maxim is still in love with Rebecca. She discovers, too, that her<br />

husband has a fi ery temper, and sometimes erupts at apparently innocent actions on her<br />

part.<br />

Mrs. Danvers tries to persuade Mrs. de Winter to leap to her death. Trying to act the<br />

perfect wife, Mrs. de Winter suggests to Maxim that they host a costume party as he used<br />

to do with Rebecca. Maxim reluctantly consents. Mrs. de Winter excitedly plans her own<br />

costume in secret, but Mrs. Danvers suggests that she copy the dress of Caroline de Winter,<br />

an ancestor, whose portrait hangs in the upstairs hallway. On the night of the party, Mrs.<br />

de Winter reveals her costume to Maxim, who is both surprised and angry at her, shouting<br />

at her to change her costume. Mrs. de Winter rushes upstairs, sees Mrs. Danvers go into<br />

Rebecca's room and follows her. There she confronts Mrs. Danvers about her knowing that<br />

Rebecca had worn the same costume at a previous ball. Mrs. Danvers retaliates by saying<br />

that she will never take Rebecca's place and almost convinces Mrs. de Winter to commit<br />

suicide. But Mrs. de Winter snaps out of her trance when a sudden commotion starts<br />

outside — a ship has been spotted foundering off the coast.<br />

Mrs. de Winter (after changing her outfi t) rushes downstairs to the front lawn, where she<br />

hears news that, during the rescue, a sunken boat has been found off the coast - with<br />

Rebecca's body in it. She spots a distant glow from the cottage on the shore and enters to<br />

fi nd Maxim. Maxim admits to his new wife that he had earlier misidentifi ed another body<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 16


REBECCA<br />

as Rebecca's in order to prevent discovery of the<br />

truth. From almost the beginning of their marriage,<br />

when Rebecca broke the news to him of her own<br />

promiscuous nature, he and Rebecca had hated<br />

one another. They had agreed to a sordid deal: she<br />

would act the perfect wife and hostess in public,<br />

preserving his family honor and her position,<br />

while he ignored her discreetly-conducted affairs.<br />

Rebecca, however, began to get "careless" after a<br />

while, for example disappearing for days on end<br />

to London and then returning as though nothing<br />

was wrong. Maxim was also aware of Rebecca's<br />

ongoing affair with Jack. One night, expecting to<br />

fi nd Rebecca and Jack together, Maxim came down<br />

to the cottage. Rebecca had been expecting Jack.<br />

She told Maxim that she was pregnant with Jack's<br />

child. During the ensuing argument, she fell, hit her<br />

head, and died. Maxim took the body out in a boat<br />

which he then scuttled.<br />

Mrs. Danvers tries to persuade Mrs. de<br />

Winter to leap to her death in the fi lm<br />

version of Rebecca<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

Shedding her girlish innocence, Maxim's wife immediately starts coaching her husband<br />

on how best to conceal the facts of Rebecca's death from the authorities. In the ensuing<br />

police investigation, offi cials question whether the evidently deliberate damage to the<br />

boat pointed to suicide. Privately, Jack shows Maxim a letter from Rebecca urging him<br />

excitedly to meet her, which seems to suggest she was not suicidal. He tries to blackmail<br />

Maxim with the letter, but Maxim tells the police about the attempt. Maxim nevertheless<br />

comes under suspicion of murder and the second Mrs. de Winter must face the prospect<br />

of losing her husband. The investigation focuses on Rebecca's secret visits to a London<br />

doctor (Leo G. Carroll), which Jack presumes was due to what believes to have been her<br />

illicit pregnancy. However, the coroner's interview with the doctor in the presence of<br />

Maxim and Jack reveals that Rebecca was mistaken in believing herself pregnant, and was<br />

in fact suffering from terminal cancer.<br />

The doctor's evidence persuades the coroner to bring in a verdict of suicide. Only Maxim<br />

and his wife will be able to understand the full story: that Rebecca had lied to Maxim<br />

about being pregnant with another man's child so as to goad him, in full knowledge of his<br />

family pride and easily-roused temper, into killing her — as an indirect means of suicide.<br />

As Maxim returns home from London to Manderley, he fi nds the manor on fi re, set alight<br />

by the deranged Mrs. Danvers. The second Mrs. de Winter has escaped the blaze, but<br />

Danvers dies in the fl ames.<br />

-- from www.wikipedia.com<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 17


DESIGN<br />

DESIGNING A HAUNTED HOUSE<br />

ATC’s Marketing and PR Manager in Tucson, Jeff<br />

Grynkewich, got in touch with Scenic Designer,<br />

Drew Boughton, to quiz him about the original<br />

inspiration for the gothic mansion (and Egyptian<br />

tomb) that he created for The Mystery of Irma Vep.<br />

Jeff Grynkewich: How did you get involved in The<br />

Mystery of Irma Vep?<br />

Andrew Boughton: David Ira had asked me<br />

to design Scapin the previous season and we<br />

really enjoyed that and working together. David<br />

is a brilliant director and takes big risks visually.<br />

When he talked to me about Scapin, he talked<br />

about a fairly radical set concept: extreme forced<br />

perspective. That is when the set appears much<br />

deeper than it is by making the buildings at the<br />

back smaller and smaller. That was a very exciting<br />

R. Hamilton Wright and Bob Sorenson in<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>’s 1999 production<br />

of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Photo by Tim<br />

Fuller/<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong>.<br />

idea to me. So when it came to Irma Vep we talked about the monster fi lms that the play<br />

references and the opportunity of putting that on the ATC stage. For me it was the chance<br />

of a lifetime.<br />

JG: Do you have any personal connections to the project?<br />

DB: The personal connections really are the people involved. David Ira, of course, and the<br />

costume designer David Kay Mickelsen whose work is always amazing. Just working with<br />

a group of guys like that together on a project is a kick in the pants.<br />

JG: What should the audience expect to see when they walk in the theatre?<br />

DB: They should expect to see an affectionate homage to some great cinematic horror<br />

and mystery, and some great stew of theater crafts: the impossibly quick costume changes,<br />

the tour de force performances required just to get the play from start to fi nish every<br />

night. Supercool lighting, sound and production. They should also expect along the way<br />

something -- how do you say -- "zany."<br />

JG: What was your inspiration for this project?<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 18


DESIGN<br />

DISCUSSION<br />

DB: For me, it was mostly the 1931 Frankenstein fi lm. It is such a superb example of<br />

expressionist fi lm set design. The radical way in which the abstraction of the physical<br />

environment skews, twists, distorts, and ultimately refl ects the demented path of Dr<br />

Frankenstein and his creation.<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

JG: Have you designed something similar to this set in the past and/or have any aspects of this<br />

set help inspire other projects?<br />

DB: I have never designed anything like it before or since. It has, however, inspired me during<br />

other projects. Mostly it reminds me to do something "crazy" and take real risks as a designer.<br />

JG: What is unique about the set?<br />

DB: It's the only motorized crumbling purple castle on wheels in existence (as far as I know).<br />

POST SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS<br />

1. What is the defi nition of parody? Can you site examples of horror parodies? What do you think<br />

of this style?<br />

2. What acting skills are necessary for actors cast in a production that requires playing multiple<br />

roles?<br />

3. Why do you think The Mystery of Irma Vep has SUCH a strong national and international<br />

following (a Japanese version used kabuki and a Brazilian production ran continuously for eight<br />

years)?<br />

4. Contractually, to produce the script, a theatre is required to cast two actors of the same sex, to<br />

ensure cross-dressing. How did that element enhance the experience?<br />

5. What is the signifi cance of the title?<br />

6. What popular TV shows and movies would you consider to be farces? Explain your answer<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 19


DISCUSSION<br />

RELATED POST-SHOW ASSIGNMENTS<br />

(BASED ON LANGUAGE ARTS STATE STANDARDS)<br />

1. Research the genre of literature known as Penny Dreadfuls. Would you consider the<br />

writing of R.L. Stine and his Goosebumps series to be a contemporary example of this<br />

genre? Defend your answer.<br />

2. Ludlam, the playwright, has been quoted as saying that, in working on the initial<br />

production of The Mystery of Irma Vep, “Our slant was actually to take things very<br />

seriously, especially focusing on those things held in low esteem by society and<br />

revaluing them, giving them new meaning, new worth, by changing their context."<br />

Generally, parody, melodrama and penny dreadful writing styles were held in low<br />

esteem, but had great public followings. Write a comparison/contrast paper examining<br />

any similarities in today’s society, such as reality television, day or nighttime soaps, or<br />

Hollywood summer blockbusters. Defend your answer.<br />

3. What is the play all about? Reference back to what happens during the very last<br />

moments of the play, especially the last minute. Write an expository essay describing<br />

what happens or is said, to emphasize Ludlam’s message (above).<br />

RELATED POST-SHOW ASSIGNMENTS<br />

(BASED ON THEATRE ARTS STATE STANDARDS)<br />

1. There are about thirty-six costume changes, by two actors playing eight characters,<br />

in the two hour production. Quick costume changes are an important element of<br />

the production; discuss how the structure of the script accommodated the costuming.<br />

2. Ludlam incorporates either quotes or paraphrases from a variety of sources, including<br />

Shakespeare, Ibsen, Poe, and many other writers. Did you recognize any of these<br />

passages? Why were they used? How did they ‘help’ or heighten the parody on stage?<br />

Explain your answers in a brief essay.<br />

3. Many fans of The Mystery of Irma Vep consider the show to be a “love letter” to live<br />

theatre. Write a persuasive essay illustrating your argument for or against this statement.<br />

4. The script contains numerous double entendres. Explain what this term means by<br />

providing examples from The Mystery of Irma Vep or other plays or movies you have<br />

seen.<br />

5. On stage do you prefer to see comedies or dramas? How about your preference in<br />

movies? Explain your answer.<br />

The Mystery of Irma Vep<br />

<strong>Arizona</strong> <strong>Theatre</strong> <strong>Company</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 20

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