Play Guide [2.6MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

IRMA VEP
ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP
Written in 1984, Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of
Irma Vep defi es classifi cation. The play premiered at
the Ridiculous Theatrical Company when Ludlam was
Artistic Director. As the theatre’s name indicates, that
company produced plays that did not take themselves
seriously. The theatre’s “manifesto” makes it clear that
there is no subject or theatrical form above being
lampooned. The Mystery of Irma Vep is a hilariously
funny play that combines several theatrical forms. All
of the play’s characters are performed by two actors.
In fact, the play is often referred to as “a quick change
act.”
Ludlam called his play “A Penny Dreadful.” This
theatrical form was popular in Victorian England. Penny
Dreadfuls are plays that we might now call Gothic
Horrors. In these plays, the action takes place amidst
a feeling of dread. The characters sense that something
is terribly wrong, that some horrible thing is about to
happen, but for most of the play, they cannot fi gure
out what it is. The Mystery of Irma Vep incorporates this
feeling of dread and satirizes (makes fun of) it. The play
Costume rendering for The Mystery of Irma
Vep by designer David K. Mickelsen
The Mystery of Irma Vep
introduces this dread feeling immediately and comically. One of the characters, Nicodemus,
has a wooden leg. In the play’s opening scene, he has the following conversation with Jane, the
housekeeper:
JANE: And don’t clump so with that wooden leg. You’ll wake Lady Enid.
NICODEMUS: And wasn’t it to save Lord Edgar from the wolf that me leg got
mangled so? I should think she’d be glad to hear me clump after what I did
for him.
JANE: That was a long time ago. Lady Enid doesn’t know anything about it.
NICODEMUS: She’ll fi nd out soon enough.
This dialogue introduces the mystery immediately and foreshadows the fact that the events
that led to Nicodemus’s losing his leg are dreadful and horrible and will continue to
plague the characters. But Ludlam’s choice of language lets us know at once that, rather
than trying to really scare us, the play is intended to be a spoof of a “penny dreadful.”
Instead of saying simply that Lady Enid will be grateful to him for saving Lord Edgar, he
says, “ I should think she’d be glad to hear me clump…”
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 8