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THE YOUNGSTOWN PLAYHOUSE ‘Irma’ gives Hitchcock a campy twist
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
One of the mysteries in “The Mystery of Irma Vep” is how does the two-man cast play all eight characters?
Actually, it’s not much of a mystery. There are a lot of quick changes.
The Youngstown Playhouse will wrap up its regular season with the wildly comic farce, which opens Friday.
“Irma Vep” will be staged in the theater’s intimate Moyer Room for six performances over two weeks.
Tasked with portraying the eight characters will be C.H. Kettering and Timothy R. Thomas.
The director is Matthew Mazuroski.
“It’s a campy over-the-top melodrama that is based on the movie ‘Rebecca’ by Alfred Hitchcock,” said Mazuroski. “It takes the same characters and ramps them up.”
The comedy was written by the late Charles Ludlam, who reveled in the ridiculous and founded the Ridiculous Theatrical Company in 1967.
“Irma Vep” not only parodies the film “Rebecca,” but adds some classic 1940s monster-movie ghouls and vampires as well as elements of “Wuthering Heights.”
“It mashes them together, and it’s kind of a whodunnit,” said Mazuroski.
Incidentally, the play is subtitled “A Penny Dreadful,” which refers to the sensational serial booklets that were sold in Victorian England.
“Irma Vep” premiered in the early 1980s, with Ludlam as one of the characters. The Youngstown Playhouse last performed it about 15 years ago.
Ludlam’s script requires that the cast consists of just two people, and both must be either male or female.
Mazuroski recalls seeing the play years ago when he was a young actor just out of grad school. “It was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen,” he said. “It’s a challenge for the two actors, who have to keep changing their voices and how they move. Half of the fun is seeing who they are going to appear as next.”
The plot is propelled by one character who is mourning the death of his first wife, Irma Vep. The actors play all characters: male, female, werewolf and whatever else.
“Hopefully, it will leave the audience breathless with laughter,” said Mazuroski, who stressed that the play is definitely not for children.
Johnny Pecano created some specific sound effects, including thunder, for the three-act comedy. Pat Foltz is the assistant director, and stage manager is Pat Foltz. Jim Lybarger is the set designer, with costumes and props by Pat Petaccio and Amy Rigby.