Play Guide [2.6MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company
Play Guide [2.6MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company
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 />
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