This high-camp gothic spoof features two of Orlando's favorite actors portraying all the residents of the Mandacrest estate in this virtuoso quick-change horror story.
Doug Ba’aser and Eeads Brown portray 8 men and women between them, making more than 30 costume changes in this fast paced comedic thriller.
The play is a satire of several theatrical and film genres, including Victorian melodrama, farce, and the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca.
Thunder crashing. Lightening flashing. A severed limp. Vampires, ghosts, mummies and warewolves all combine to make this play perfect Halloween-season fare. And did we mention funny? Obie-winning Irma Vep will keep you in stitches right up until the final twist.
THE ROAD TO ORLANDO:
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 and as Lord Edgar Hillcrest, the master of the manor, and the housekeeper (among other characters). The "Cast and Crew" won a Special Drama Desk Award. Ludlam and Quinton won the 1985 Obie Award for Ensemble Performance.
Irma Vep was later produced off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre from September 1998 through July 1999, with Quinton and Stephen DeRosa. he production won the 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival, 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).
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.
Ba’aser & Eads-Brown are each reprising the charaters they played in the early 2010 production presented during an experimental mini-theatrical season at Slueth’s Mystery Dinner Theatre. This production at the PH in under the same direction – Chris Robison – and Wanzie says of it – “This is Dug and Josh at their best. Their performances are just flat out hysterical”.
