Review: THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP - A PENNY DREADFUL, Jack Studio Theatre

In the week that saw Stanley Baxter leave us at the ripe old age of 99, it is fitting that this production of Irma Vep lands at the Jack Studio Theatre. The Scottish perfectionist would admire much about the show and see something of his own chameleonesque, cross-dressing, comic skills in the performances of Joe Newton and James Keningale. High praise indeed, but, with a wonderfully detailed set from Karl Swinyard, it’s near as dammit an unintentional tribute to the great entertainer.

Charles Ludlam’s two-hander dates back some 40 years now, but it is a testament to the writing and, particularly, his insistence that the actors must be same sex, that drives much of the quirky humour of the play. AIDS carried Ludlam away in the great forgotten pandemic of the 80s (to his credit, he was clear about what killed him at a time when euphemisms were, understandably, used more often than not). But to leave a legacy of laughter around the world - the play is still often performed - is no bad way to sign off.

In a pitch perfect Edwardian drawing room, the mistress of the house’s maid, Jane, and the pigman, Nicodemus, discuss the possible return of the wolf that killed Lord Edgar’s first wife, Irma Vep, and their son, Victor. Meanwhile the Mistress, a second wife, Enid, is asserting her authority over both a disapproving Jane and a sexually frustrated Edgar. When he returns from a trip excavating mummies in Egypt (the way you do) matters come to a head. But does the wolf exist at all, or, maybe, is it… A WEREWOLF!

It will come as no surprise from that synopsis that the humour is arch indeed and enhanced by the multiple exits and entries and (off-stage) quick changes that we all know about and that the actors never (well, hardly ever) acknowledge. It’s very, very hard to get this stuff right - dial it up too much and it’s bad panto, dial it back and we’ll miss it or, worse, see it as an invitation to sympathise with the cast. Props too, for avoiding the spectre of a tired rehash of one of those Two Ronnies closing sketches with Barker and Corbett in dameish drag - the costumes are just too good and the actors too committed to actual female movement to pick up those cheap laughs. Camp is never far away, but broad it is not.

If the story sags a little in the second act (I’m not sure we needed all that Egypt stuff), director, Kate Bannister, cranks up the pace again as the conclusion, long expected but fun all the same, rushes towards us. With it comes a concomitant hyping of the hamminess, with facial expressions last seen in F. W. Murnau’s silent classics and a real licence granted for us to laugh along on that deliciously transgressive cusp between horror and comedy. 

It’s a lovely evening if you want to see a production that is as much an homage to its genre as a spoof, remarkable in its classy production values and illuminated by two pitch perfect performances.    

The Mystery of Irma Vep – a Penny Dreadful at The Jack Studio Theatre until 4 January