The Mystery of Irma Vep


The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam is one of the most produced comedies in US history; named one of 1984’s best plays by Time Magazine and the New York Times. It is a tribute to gothic horror films and liberally borrows from well known film classics such as Withering Heights, The Mummy’s Curse and Hitchcock’s Rebecca. Literary detectives will also recognize dialog lifted from Ibsen, Shakespeare, and Poe. The Mystery of Irma Vep is a tour de force for both Ryan Case and Shayne Brakefield, who play all eight characters - racing through a quick change marathon complete with werewolves, vampires and damsels in distress.

This production starred two of Lexington’s best comedic actors – Ryan Case and Shayne Brakefield, who played all eight of the play’s characters. The project also brought back to Lexington a native son - the director Barry J. Williams, a founder of Actors’ Guild of Lexington and a well-known and much-loved actor and director.

This production was the first show mounted by the Balagula Theater company on their new stage inside Natasha’s Bistro. The new space provides much needed additional room for complete sets, back stage, as well as full lighting capacity.




INTERVIEW

Partnership is center stage at Balagula Theater

By Candace Chaney
The Winchester Sun
Monday September 29, 2008

Natasha Williams and Ryan Case have a hard time remembering exactly when and how they met. They're just glad it happened.

It was certainly a fortuitous meeting, not just for their sakes, but for the theater world, as well. Thanks to their friendship and collaboration, the art scene in cental Kentucky is a little richer and actors don't have to stray so far from home to practice their craft.

"Basically, it's Ryan's baby," Williams said of the Balagula Theater. The Lexington theater was co-founded by both Williams and Case, but Case has served as artistic director since the beginning. Balagula operates in Natasha's Bistro, a restaurant owned and operated by Williams, and is a non-profit organization dedicating to helping develop new talent.

"We had performed plays before in the space and Natasha and I wanted to give it a life of its own, to give actors a space to develop their skills," Case said of the Balagula, which was incorpoated two years ago and received non-profit status last year.

The 33-year-old Case has been acting since he was 13, but for the Winchester native, going to New York or Los Angeles looking for stardom just wasn't all that appealing.

That desire to stay close to home is at the heart of the theater's mission statement, and one of the biggest reasons he and Williams are so dedicated to it.

"Our greatest mission for the theater now is to find places for people who are talented beyond the region to stay here. We should keep them here, and not ship them off to New York or L.A.," Williams said.

And she firmly believes that central Kentucky will step up to the plate and help make that dream possible.

"We have a supportive community that can support professional theater," Williams said.

And no one has supported Case more than his hometown.

"It's really touching how many people responded and how supportive the Winchester community is for what we're doing," Williams said.

Right now, Williams and Case are busy promoting their latest production, The Mystery of Irma Vep, by Charles Ludlum. The show will be performed Oct. 5, 7-9, 12 and 14-16 at 8 p.m. at Natasha's Cafe, 112 Esplanade in downtown Lexington.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children and seniors. Reservations are required.

Case will star in the show, along with Shayne Brakefield.

"It's a two-man, eight-character play and it's a comedy that sends out an homage to the classic horror movies and drama of the cinema. It was actually the first play I saw when I left Winchester to seek out a theatrical education that really inspired me to be an actor," Case said.

It's certainly not an easy show to perform in and Case and Brakefield have 84 entrances and exits and 62 costume changes, as well as playing both male and female roles.

"It's probably one of the most difficult pieces for an actor," Williams said, but she is confident in Case's ability to bring the show to life.

"I've lived in several countries and I've seen a lot of theater. What I saw in Ryan was an extremely unusual, unique talent of a major scale," Williams said.

And she's not the only person who has noticed Case's acting abilities. Williams was visiting her home country, Ukraine, and shared a CD recording of Case performing in the Balagula production of "Pillow Man" with a director of the Kiev Drama Theater on Podol, the premier theater in Ukraine. He was blown away by what he heard.

"He said, 'This guy is great! Today he may not be known outside the state, but tomorrow he'll be a major star,'" Williams said.

That recording led to an invitation for Williams and Case to take Irma Vep overseas and perform it in Kiev this winter.

"I was really impressed (by the invitation). That was really something," Williams said. She and Case are co-founding an international drama festival in Kiev, as well. That's no small feat for such a young company, and one with its roots firmly planted in Lexington.

"We've really grown into one of the major players in Lexington's theatrical community," Case said.

"We're young," Williams said, pausing a moment before adding, "and feisty."

But all that feistiness aside, these days they're mostly looking forward to seeing audiences react to Irma Vep.

"It's a joy to be a performer in it and to watch it," Case said. "This show was an exploration of style and form that we hadn't tried before. It's a challenge for the theater itself."

Case and Williams think that Balagula is up to the challenge.

"It's (Balagula) here to challenge the actor and ourselves and explore new realms within our work," Case said.

And Irma Vep has been bringing audiences together.

"For a moment, you'll feel like family because you'll recognize your common experiences," Williams said.

Both she and Case see theater as a way to heal the country during divisive times, and for Case, it's the laughter that helps the most.

"The laughter brings people together. That's the magic of the play."

REVIEW

The real mystery of 'Irma Vep': How can anything be so funny?

By Candace Chaney
The Lexington Herald-Leader
Friday, October 10, 2008

As you walk into Natasha's Bistro to see the Balagula Theatre's latest production, it is immediately obvious that something is different about the funky, eclectic space. For one, the adjoining boutique is surprisingly just ... gone. In its place is an expanded space devoted to housing Balagula's expanding theater offerings.

Cozy restaurant tables spill into this space and onto the floor of a newly constructed black-box theater and bumping up against a sprawling, intricate set. Looking up, I see that the ceiling is rigged with full lighting equipment rather than the Bistro's usual makeshift lighting.

During dinner before the show, a soundtrack of what sounds like Halloween music wafts among the diners. The music foreshadows the eclectic oddity that is The Mystery of Irma Vep, Charles Ludlam's ridiculous, clever, enchanting romp of epic absurdity. Drawing from TV themes like The Addams Family, Twin Peaks and even Days of Our Lives, the music evokes a kind of spooky kitsch. The set is an artfully designed blend of old manor-house creepiness and unusual allusions to hieroglyphics that, like the music, leaves the audience wondering, "What the ...?" To be fair, that question is not far from everyone's mind even as the show starts, even as it careens toward its ending, but the tone of its asking is one filled with hyperbolic delight and giddiness.

For you see, The Mystery of Irma Vep is of the funniest and most cleverly produced shows I have ever seen. Ever. What's more, the quality of the performances, direction, and technical achievements result in sophisticated silliness that is hard to pull off, and for the audience, impossible to resist. A proper plot synopsis would be more confusing than it is worth, so let's just say the story involves hilarious takes on clichéd mystery stories, all centered around dear, deceased Irma Vep.

Actors Shayne Brakefield and Ryan Case play eight roles between them, deftly switching characters with impressive speed and accuracy. Case is particularly striking because his range of characters is so disparate. He first appears as a grizzled, dirty, lecherous, peg-legged hunchback, only to re-enter the stage moments later as the lithe, lovely lady of the house, Enid, whom Case plays with retro panache. He and Brakefield share incendiary chemistry and sharp timing. Plus, they both wear a mean dress.

We have seen Case and Brakefield in drag before, in both silly and sizzling roles, but this is so much more than straight camp or quirky drama — this is, and I mean this in the best possible way, pure, fascinating, captivating lunacy. The story doesn't so much unfold; it gallivants toward an intoxicating insanity that leaves you wanting more. Each act trumps the other in sumptuous, un expected twists of wildly enchanting character revelations, full-moon tinged hysteria, and gut-busting, high-energy, intentionally overwrought physical comedy. Watching the show is like opening a set of Halloween-themed Russian dolls, each one more mesmerizingly bizarre, funny and striking than the previous one.

It is also kind of like being inside a lucid dream — a surreal late-night mélange of old black-and-white horror films mixed with a host of wry and ironic nods to our collectively clichéd literary consciousness. The script is copiously peppered with influences including Shakespeare, Poe, Hitchcock, the Brontë sisters and modern soap operas. Part of the fun is the narrative guesswork the audience gets to do. Just when you think you've got a handle on the show being a ghost story — bam! — it is about vampires, or werewolves, or ancient Egypt, or murder mystery, or romance.

Just in time for Halloween, Balagula's first fully realized production is accomplished and irresistible, the first must-see show of this theater season.

Click Here to return to the Main Page.