& The Mystery of Irma Vep
by Charles Ludiam at the
Arts Club Theatre
Granville Island to Sept. 2.
Box office: 687-1644.

Martin Millerchip

Curtain Call
mumillerchip@usnews.com

“WELL, any man who
dresses up as a woman
can’t be all bad,” sim-
pers Lady Enid
Hillerest at one point
in Charles Ludlam’s
campy comedy, The
Mystery of Iria Vep.

I give nothing away if I say
that by this time in the phy
the audience is aware that only
two actors are rotating
through seven of eight roles
and assexiated gender cha
lenges. So there's a sudden
awareness of hearing the phiy-
wright’s own voice by the time
we hear the line.

Ludlam founded the
Ridiculous Theatre Company
in 1967 and by his untimely
death at age 44 trom AIDS-
related complications had
penned 29 plays. His compa-
ny’s ensemble style often
blurred the lines benveen gen-
res, always seeking to chal-
lenge (shock?) others and

. themselves from accepting the
status quo.

His most successful work
(measured in terms of perfor-
mances) remains The Mystery
of Irma Vep with its blend of
farce and melodrama. When it
premiered in 1984 it received
a special Drama Desk Award
and two Obies. Ludlam him-
self was awarded another Obie
for Sustained Achievement in
1987.

This Arts Club production
does Ludlam proud. Leslie
Jones and Shawn Macdonald
rattle through their revolving
roles without ever losing track
of who or where they are.
Once the audience is in on
this particular piece of stage-
craft it becomes part of the
play’s theatrical suspense to
await who will appear onstage
next and how quickly. A small
army of dressers unseen in the
wings rip costume parts on
and off in choreographed
insanity that culminates with
Jones leaving stage right as
lady Enid and returning centre
stage as Nicodemus and then
having a conversation with
herself!

Suspense is supposedly a

- large part of the plot too as
Rebecea meets Wuthering
Heights and Lady Enid, the

“new mistress of Mandacrest,
struggles to replace Irma Vep
in the mind and affections of
the young Lord Edgar, an
egyptologist longing for his
mummy.

Questions arrive as fast as
the play’s exposition. Will
Edgar ever find and kill the
wolf who stalks the moors?
How exactly did Irma Vep die
and is any part of her still
“hanging” around? How

owt

photo Arts Club
SHAWN Macdonald (left) and Leslie Jones star In multiple roles in the hilarious

Arts Ciub Theatre production of The Mystery of Irma Vep.

much uller than Enid is her
maid, fane, and just what does
Nicodemus’s wooden leg
serew into?

A trip to Egypt just adds to
the mystery while swapping
ctestiods based on The Whilf
Man tor those based on The
Maiauny’s Curse but it all boils
down to: Will Edgar and Enid
ever find true happiness?

In fact, keeping the wists
and turns of Irma Vep's mad-
cap plot straights entirely
incidental to enjoyment of the
play. Style is almost everything
and Jones and Macdonald are
so much in control of the ham
stakes 'm surprised there has-
n't been a run on pork belly
futures. They are naturally
gifted comic actors who can
take off on everything from
Bram (Stoker) to Bronté with-
out any of the selfindulgence
that would turn the tasty treat

of ham and corn into the
cardboard of scenery chewing.
The physical investment each
actor makes in their characters
is worth the price of admission
alone, but when the two
joined voices in breathy vibra-
toon “Tis the Last Rose af
Stuur T wanted to stand and
cheer “Encere™ on the spor.
Director Patrick McDonald
(who, together with Jones,
lives on Bowen fsland)
deserves much of the credit for
the style and seamless flow of
the production, but if F had
one wish for an otherwise per-
fect production it would be to
ask whether emotional truth is
possible amid the carnage of
comedy. What moment of
longing, seeret desire or fear
might be played to cing true
for the character's sake rather
than be embellished tor the
production's style. The play's

subtitle, A Penny Dreadful,
might tip its hat towards the
19th century melodramatic
stories that were the equivalent
of pulp fiction 100 years later,
but melodrama itself included
successtil plays thar were
plaved “straight” in their day.

The design team of Naney
Brvant (costumes), Ken
MacDonald (set) and Marsha
Sibthorpe do a great job of
making the Arts Club look as
if it actually spent afotof
money on the production,
while Jon McCulloch's ambi-
tous sound score adds greatly
to the action.

The thought of abandon-
ing summer for a night at the
theatre is alien to many

Vancouverites, but The Afystery

of Irma Vep is so much more
than just an exercise in quick
changes it should not be
missed.

ri

NORTH Shore theatre goers
will know the name of play:
wright and word wizard John
MeGie who hay had produce
tions of his work performed at
Deep Cove’s Shaw Theatre
and Presentation House and
won fast vear’s North $

Zong of the Theatre

Festival with Vu.

Megie is presentiv in The
UK. preparing tor the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Where pve of his scripts wall be
pertormed at the Bedlam
Theatre: Blandiloguence bv the
North Van-based David Rave
Productions and Flapdoadle by
a professional English compa-

Friday, August 11, 2000 - North Shore News - 15

ny Hivria Productions,

Both companies, pertorm-
ing under the banner oF
Hooper Trouper, return on
September 3 to participate in
the Vancouver Fringe Festival
Sept Tote TPs.

MeGie has aadertaken to
keep the s apprised of his
experience with postcards trom
the Fringe.

a Martin Millerchip
Hello, everybody,

Canadian contingent
arrived at Gatwick Airport
(London) in appropriate zom-
bie-like fashion. Rehearsed in

See Electricity Page 16

CHARLES LUDLAM
starring

LESLIE JONES

SHAWN MACDONALD

directed by

PATRICK McDONALD
set design

KEN MacDONALD
costume design
NANCY BRYANT
lighting design
MARSHA SIBTHORPE

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