by Geoff Hoff

I have wanted to see The Mystery of Irma Vep, written by Charles Ludlam, since I first heard about it some fifteen years ago or so.  The idea of farce, parody, social commentary and Mr. Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatricals Company mixed up with a play where two actors play eight characters seemed to me essential theatre and not to be missed.  I was, however, somewhat disappointed in the production by the Ark Theatre Company at their new home in the Hayworth Theater.

The play is a takeoff of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel Rebecca, which Alfred Hitchcock famously made into a melodramatic movie that he himself disparaged, about a new bride coming to the country estate of her new husband that is haunted by the memory of his late wife, a memory held alive by the creepy housekeeper.  It is also a takeoff of Gaslight, The Mummy, vampire movies, werewolf movies and anything else Mr. Ludlam could cram into it.  The play is, indeed, ridiculous, and relies on exquisite physical comedy, expert comic timing, breakneck costume and scene changes and rich character delineation.

The Ark Theatre production of The Mystery of Irma Vep is earnest, but clumsy.  That is mostly not the fault of the two actors who play all the parts, Jim Hanna as Nicodemus Underwood the “stable boy” and Lady Enid Hillcrest, among others and Steven Shields as Jane Twisden the housekeeper and Lord Edgar Hillcrest, among others.  Mr. Hanna is delightful as Underwood and Mr. Shields is appropriately clueless as Lord Edgar.

Both actors were funny, although in some of the quick offstage dialogue between two characters played by one actor, the voices seemed to meld a bit.  Also, although both fine actors, Mr. Shields wasn’t quite up to some of the physical comedy, such as the well written moment in which Lord Edgar almost trips over Underwood’s wooden leg several times in quick succession.  The inevitable trip was clumsy and anticlimactic.

The costumes, by Dee Amerio Sudik, looked wonderful, but weren’t engineered quite well enough for the required lightning quick changes and the actors were often left on-stage vamping until a change was completed.  Mr. Shields changing back and forth between Lord Edgar and Jane were often miraculously quick, giving the audience a small glimpse of what could be possible.

The set, by Shelly Delanye, tried to be atmospheric, but was mostly just functional, and sometimes barely that, although the painting of Irma Vep above the mantle was very effective and immediately set the silly mood of the piece for the audience as they entered the theatre.  There was one detail that still puzzles me, a small model of the set itself sitting on one shelf of the book case.  Perhaps it was meant simply as more silliness and I’m trying to make it mean more than it could.

In defense of the production, the main problem may lie, actually, with the theatre space itself, which was quite small and obviously did not have the backstage area required for frenetic costume changes and more clever set pieces, such as, perhaps, having a couple of walls that swivelled so you could, for example, move to Egypt in a couple of seconds, rather than the minutes it took here.

The production did valiantly try to make a virtue of the low tech, such as making the stage hands argue and hurrumph about the impossibility of the few set changes while they were doing them but the effect of that was requiring the audience to keep hold of the frenetic pace in their mind until the actors could come back out and pick it up.

The Mystery of Irma Vep was directed by Andrew Crusse.  The lighting was by Jeffrey M. Davis, sound by Corwin Evans.  There is a long list of stage managers and assistant stage managers who should be mentioned as they were necessarily a part of the play itself - Stage Manager Renee Scott, and assistants Jen Albert, Catherine Cronin, Renae Geerlings, David Glasser, Anna Quirino Miranda, Patty Robinson and Sasha Sobolevsky.

The play is performed Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm through Saturday, April 4th, 2009.

The Hayworth Theatre is located at 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90057 - east of Vermont, between Coronado and Corondelet - entrance on Corondelet.

Ticket prices: $22.00 on Fridays and Saturdays, $20.00 on Thursdays and Sundays ($18.00 on Fridays and Saturdays and $15.00 on Thursdays and Sundays for seniors and students)

Reservations online at www.arktheatre.org or by phone at (323) 969-1707