The Stage

The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful

Published Friday 27 February 2009 at 15:55 by Thom Dibdin

There’s more ham on the stage in this hilarious new production at the Royal Lyceum than in a lifetime’s cooked breakfasts. Which is exactly as it should be, as Andy Gray and Steven McNicoll get their considerable comic talents around Charles Ludlum’s delicious gothic parody. Their timing is spot on, and they know exactly how far to take the overplaying without overwhelming the script and putting the production out of balance.

With the constraint of two performers of the same gender taking on all the roles, the temptation for the actors is to regard this as all a bit too lowbrow when they and the audience share the knowledge that a third character cannot enter if they are already on stage. Director Ian Grieve stops Gray and McNicoll from falling into such trap. Instead, by treating the play seriously and giving it the respect it deserves, they draw out the maximum entertainment.

What they don’t draw out, however, are all the potential double-entendres written for the play’s original gay audience. The innuendo is still there for those who have the ears for it, while it is camp enough on a basic level. And it does allow them to focus more fully on the elements of gothic parody.

Becky Minto’s set draws fully on the genre and would fit perfectly into any ghostly mansion in a Hammer House of Horror movie. Alan Penman plays liberally and to great comic effect with the sound design in terms of noises off and appropriately cliched spooky music. Thoroughly knowing, eminently silly and altogether superb stuff.