Irma Vep

Last night's performance of the Center Stage production "The Mystery of Irma Vep" in the new Head Theater was canceled.Actor Wil Love lost his voice and was unable to go on. The two-man play featuring Love and Derek D. Smith, who play four roles each, was previously canceled twice and interrupted once. The first two times Smith had trouble with his voice and the last time was due to technical problems.It was not known as of yesterday whether Love will recover enough to perform tonight. The play, by Charles Ludlam, is Love's 28th Center Stage performance.

The only mystery in "The Mystery of Irma Vep" is how the two actors who dash, hop, limp and swirl through the Everyman Theatre staging of Charles Ludlam's inventive and amusing play are still standing at the end. Portraying at least three characters apiece, and with gender-crossing ease, the duo of Clinton Brandhagen and Bruce R. Nelson plugs tightly into the crazed world that Ludlam fashioned in 1984. His play, slyly subtitled "a penny dreadful," contains varying amounts of Victorian melodrama, Gothic horror, vaudeville, Hollywood and maybe even a little of "The Carol Burnett Show."

Charles Ludlam's "The Mystery of Irma Vep," which opened at Center Stage last night, is a corny, campy, melodramatic horror story in which two actors, often in drag, portray eight characters (a few of them dead).Suffice it to say that Center Stage patrons have never seen anything quite like this frequently tasteless, always unsubtle, generally hilarious production."Irma Vep" is the directorial swan song of the theater's longtime artistic director, Stan Wojewodski Jr. Granted, this play -- written by the late founder of New York's Ridiculous Theatrical Company -- might seem an unusual parting gesture.

The production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep" running at Everyman Theatre has a portrait that drips blood, an Egyptian sarcophagus, hidden passages out of which characters unexpectedly pop, a mad woman in the dungeon and such deliberately tongue-in-cheek dialogue as, "He killed the wrong wolf!" As outlandish as the onstage antics might seem, they can't hold a snuffed-out candle to the frenzied activity taking place backstage. Three dressers and a stagehand conduct a carefully choreographed dance that allows the show's two actors to make up to 50 full costume changes during each performance, complete with Victorian-era petticoats, wigs, false teeth and top hats - often in two seconds or less.

IT'S GOOD to see Wil Love back at Center Stage.An excellent comedian, Love plays about half the roles in ''The Mystery of Irma Vep,''absolutely the campiest thing the company has ever done.The play was written by Charles Ludlam, a practitioner of camp who died at age 44 in 1987. His ''Irma Vep'' was first produced off Broadway in 1984 and won two Obies. In the Center Stage production, multiple roles are shared by Love and Derek D. Smith, who manages to keep comic pace with Love.The staging is very much a part of the comedy, which takes place in the new Head Theater.

The production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep" running at Everyman Theatre has a portrait that drips blood, an Egyptian sarcophagus, hidden passages out of which characters unexpectedly pop, a mad woman in the dungeon and such deliberately tongue-in-cheek dialogue as, "He killed the wrong wolf!" As outlandish as the onstage antics might seem, they can't hold a snuffed-out candle to the frenzied activity taking place backstage. Three dressers and a stagehand conduct a carefully choreographed dance that allows the show's two actors to make up to 50 full costume changes during each performance, complete with Victorian-era petticoats, wigs, false teeth and top hats - often in two seconds or less.

It is a dark and stormy night. Lightning flashes, illuminating a cockeyed, gloomy English country house with a creepy portrait over the fireplace. The music sounds like a bargain basement version of something out of a Vincent Price horror movie. Welcome to Charles Ludlum's camp classic "The Mystery of Irma Vep." Director Kasi Campbell has fashioned such a giddy, crisp production at Rep Stage that you'll probably be laughing before the actors take the stage. And when the actors do appear, the fun really starts.

The production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep" running at Everyman Theatre has a portrait that drips blood, an Egyptian sarcophagus, hidden passages out of which characters unexpectedly pop, a mad woman in the dungeon and such deliberately tongue-in-cheek dialogue as, "He killed the wrong wolf!" As outlandish as the onstage antics might seem, they can't hold a snuffed-out candle to the frenzied activity taking place backstage. Three dressers and a stagehand conduct a carefully choreographed dance that allows the show's two actors to make up to 50 full costume changes during each performance, complete with Victorian-era petticoats, wigs, false teeth and top hats - often in two seconds or less.

The only mystery in "The Mystery of Irma Vep" is how the two actors who dash, hop, limp and swirl through the Everyman Theatre staging of Charles Ludlam's inventive and amusing play are still standing at the end. Portraying at least three characters apiece, and with gender-crossing ease, the duo of Clinton Brandhagen and Bruce R. Nelson plugs tightly into the crazed world that Ludlam fashioned in 1984. His play, slyly subtitled "a penny dreadful," contains varying amounts of Victorian melodrama, Gothic horror, vaudeville, Hollywood and maybe even a little of "The Carol Burnett Show."

If your only association with the late Charles Ludlam is Center Stage's 1991 production of his wild and crazy "Mystery of Irma Vep," then the Spotlighters' presentation of his earlier work, "Reverse Psychology," will seem rather tame.But while "Reverse Psychology" doesn't indulge in such "Irma Vep" antics as casting actors in multiple roles of both genders, it does involve a certain amount of role playing, as its title might suggest.Director Miriam Bazensky's four-member cast has fun with this, but at least on opening night, the cast seemed to be holding back a bit. Though this reviewer is a fan of understatement, Ludlam's plays demand the opposite.

The production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep" running at Everyman Theatre has a portrait that drips blood, an Egyptian sarcophagus, hidden passages out of which characters unexpectedly pop, a mad woman in the dungeon and such deliberately tongue-in-cheek dialogue as, "He killed the wrong wolf!" As outlandish as the onstage antics might seem, they can't hold a snuffed-out candle to the frenzied activity taking place backstage. Three dressers and a stagehand conduct a carefully choreographed dance that allows the show's two actors to make up to 50 full costume changes during each performance, complete with Victorian-era petticoats, wigs, false teeth and top hats - often in two seconds or less.

If I were going to employ "Reverse Psychology" -- the title of Charles Ludlam's 1980 play -- I'd advise readers to stay away from AXIS Theatre's production at all costs. And, of course, I'd be secretly hoping audiences would flock to it. Director Tony Tsendeas' wacky production of this send-up of therapists and romance is a prescription guaranteed to induce laughter. The director has staged Ludlam's comedy with all the careful attention to detail and slick production values that characterize the work of his own company, Action Theater.

Picture a Victorian melodrama, throw in a bloody werewolf thriller, a dash of Egyptology and a smattering of literary references to everything from Shakespeare to a 19th century penny dreadful called "Varney the Vampyre." Add a slew of double entendres, puns and a couple of cross-dressing actors and the result could only be Charles Ludlam's madcap whodunit, "The Mystery of Irma Vep." This campy 1984 gem is both a send-up and a celebration of all things theatrical. It's also a tour de force for the two game actors who play more than a half-dozen roles, including a wolf and a portrait that comes briefly to life.

It is a dark and stormy night. Lightning flashes, illuminating a cockeyed, gloomy English country house with a creepy portrait over the fireplace. The music sounds like a bargain basement version of something out of a Vincent Price horror movie. Welcome to Charles Ludlum's camp classic "The Mystery of Irma Vep." Director Kasi Campbell has fashioned such a giddy, crisp production at Rep Stage that you'll probably be laughing before the actors take the stage. And when the actors do appear, the fun really starts.

If your only association with the late Charles Ludlam is Center Stage's 1991 production of his wild and crazy "Mystery of Irma Vep," then the Spotlighters' presentation of his earlier work, "Reverse Psychology," will seem rather tame.But while "Reverse Psychology" doesn't indulge in such "Irma Vep" antics as casting actors in multiple roles of both genders, it does involve a certain amount of role playing, as its title might suggest.Director Miriam Bazensky's four-member cast has fun with this, but at least on opening night, the cast seemed to be holding back a bit. Though this reviewer is a fan of understatement, Ludlam's plays demand the opposite.

Center Stage's Head Theater celebrated its first birthday recently. There was no fanfare -- not even a cake.But four productions have been mounted in the innovative state-of-the-art, flexible-seating facility over the past year. And next month the theater's annual gala, Center Stage Presents, will include a tribute to the late Howard Head, for whom, together with his wife Martha, the second production space is named.This would appear to be an appropriate time to evaluate the theater's success.

These days Stan Wojewodski Jr., Center Stage's artistic director, likes to quote Pablo Picasso: "A good piece of work is the revelation of a discovery, not the demonstration of a plan."The statement applies on several levels to the theater's new fourth-floor performing space, the Head Theater. Named in honor of the local sports equipment innovator, Howard Head, and his wife, Martha, the theater opens Saturday with previews of Eric Overmyer's "The Heliotrope Bouquet by Scott Joplin & Louis Chauvin," which receives its world premiere here.

Picture a Victorian melodrama, throw in a bloody werewolf thriller, a dash of Egyptology and a smattering of literary references to everything from Shakespeare to a 19th century penny dreadful called "Varney the Vampyre." Add a slew of double entendres, puns and a couple of cross-dressing actors and the result could only be Charles Ludlam's madcap whodunit, "The Mystery of Irma Vep." This campy 1984 gem is both a send-up and a celebration of all things theatrical. It's also a tour de force for the two game actors who play more than a half-dozen roles, including a wolf and a portrait that comes briefly to life.

If you sat in the right spot at Center Stage's recently concluded production of Charles Ludlam's "The Mystery of Irma Vep," you might have noticed a portrait of a knight in armor hanging in the little hallway on the far left of the set of the musty English manor.Looking more closely, you could have caught a few anachronistic details: The crest of Yale University was painted in one corner; the school mascot, a bulldog, was painted in another; and the subject of the portrait was wearing glasses.

Last night's performance of the Center Stage production "The Mystery of Irma Vep" in the new Head Theater was canceled.Actor Wil Love lost his voice and was unable to go on. The two-man play featuring Love and Derek D. Smith, who play four roles each, was previously canceled twice and interrupted once. The first two times Smith had trouble with his voice and the last time was due to technical problems.It was not known as of yesterday whether Love will recover enough to perform tonight. The play, by Charles Ludlam, is Love's 28th Center Stage performance.