The Mystery of Irma Vep is a play in two acts by Charles Ludlam. A penny dreadful, Irma Vep is a satire of several theatrical and film genres, including Victorian melodrama, farce and the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca (1940).
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The play includes eight characters that are intended to be performed by two actors. The actors play roles of both sexes. In order to ensure cross-dressing, rights to perform the play include a stipulation that the actors must be of the same sex. The show requires a large number of sound cues, props, special effects, and lightning-quick costume changes.[1] Some 35 costume changes take place in the course of the two-hour show.[2]
The comedy includes references to (and appearances by) vampires, ghosts, mummies and werewolves. It contains the occasional jibe of an adult nature, but is largely acceptable for younger audiences. It is played in camp style. Ludlam said, however, "Our slant was actually to take things very seriously, especially focusing on those things held in low esteem by society and revaluing them, giving them new meaning, new worth, by changing their context".[3]
The Mystery of Irma Vep was first produced by Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company, opening off-off-Broadway in New York City's Greenwich Village in September 1984 and closing in April 1986. It starred Ludlam as Lady Enid, the new mistress of the manor, and a butler, and Everett Quinton as Lord Edgar Hillcrest, the master of the manor, and the housekeeper (among other characters).[4][5] The "Cast and Crew" won a Special Drama Desk Award. Ludlam and Quinton won the 1985 Obie Award for Ensemble Performance.[6]
The show was later produced off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre from September 1998 through July 1999, with Quinton and Stephen DeRosa. The production won the 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival,[7] along with Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Lighting Design (John Lee Beatty), and Outstanding Costume Design (William Ivey Long).[8][9][10]
In 1991, Irma Vep was the most produced play in the United States, and in 2003, it became the longest-running play ever produced in Brazil.[1][11][12]
Mandacrest Estate is the home of Lord Edgar and Lady Enid. Lady Enid is Lord Edgar's second wife, though he has yet to recover entirely from the passing of his first wife, Irma Vep. The house staff, a maid named Jane Twisden and a swineherd named Nicodemus Underwood, have their own opinions of Lady Enid.
After a variety of strange happenings, it becomes revealed that the name Irma Vep is an anagram for "vampire".