The Mystery of Irma Vep

By Charles Ludlam, directed by Craig Johnson
Commonweal Theatre, June 14, 2007

Commonweal’s summer comedy offering, The Mystery of Irma Vep, is a zany and delightful look inside a clichéd Victorian estate with a cast of six characters performed by two actors. Director Craig Johnson calls Irma Vep a “campy,” work from the “rag-tag world of Off-Off Broadway” from the early 80s.

The play has little in the way of plot or character development, but instead relies on melodramatic scenes that foreshadow events that often never occur. This unconventionality is part of what makes Irma Vep so much fun. The other part is the acting of Eric Knutson and Scott Dixon.

Both actors play two principles: Knutson plays the estate’s maid, Jane Twisden, and the estate’s lord, Edgar Hillcrest; Dixon plays the estate’s caretaker, Nicodemus, as well as the new lady, Enid Hillcrest. This setup causes problems as the story must be told with only two characters on stage at the same time. It’s the sort of puzzle that might challenge Marilyn vos Savant: each of four main characters can only interact with two of the three other characters, but only one at a time, so who is the werewolf?

But soon the audience forgets the puzzle, and by intermission, might even be convinced that Jane and Edgar (both played by Knutson) did share the stage a couple of times. Sometimes the actors let the audience in on the joke by reminding one another that they really can’t talk to a certain character or by stalling to give the other actor time to make the appropriate costume change. But at other times, the joke is on the audience. I’m sure I’m not the only audience member who expected more actors to come out for the curtain call. And at one point in the play, a character enters the stage almost instantaneously after her counterpart’s exit—causing a small gasp from the audience.

One particularly campy scene finds Nicodemus speaking with Enid. To accomplish this, Dixon stands in a doorway and alternately speaks to himself, offering a shoulder with Enid’s dress to the audience and then the other shoulder with Nicodemus’ black coat while plucking the wig on and off to fit the speaker. But as the conversation continues, the trick becomes more and more real. Irma Vep’s irresistible charm lies with this ability to make fun of itself while selling the audience on the story and the characters.

The success of the play sits largely with the actors’ ability to sell the tricks. Knutson’s portrayal of Jane is particularly outstanding, as is Dixon’s Nicodemus. Special backstage credit goes to Justin Madsen and Alexandra Gowdy-Jaehnig who facilitated the costume changes and, appropriately, join Knutson and Dixon for the curtain call.

One caution in choosing a seat for Irma Vep: you might want to avoid the secret passage.

The Mystery of Irma Vep plays at the St. Maine through July 5.
The Mystery of Irma Vep opens at The Commonweal July 13 and plays through September 2.

Visit the Commonweal for schedules: Commonweal Theatre