Mill Town Players Spooky “Irma Vep” Opens Friday

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Mill Town Players are bringing a spooky Halloween treat to the historic Pelzer Auditorium beginning this weekend.

Charles Ludlam’s “The Mystery of Irma Vep: A Penny Dreadful,” a landmark of American stage comedy, is an outrageous, quick-change parody that combines gothic horror, Victorian melodrama,

and camp humor into a two-person theatrical tour de force.

That’s right, thanks to 35 lightning-fast costume changes, the entire spoofy spookfest features two actors playing all the roles, including some monsters of the season.

The title itself is an anagram of “vampire” and pays homage to the 1915 French serial Les Vampires.

The play unfolds at Mandacrest Estate, an English manor haunted by mysteries and grotesque secrets. Lord Edgar Hillcrest, an Egyptologist, is still mourning his first wife, Irma Vep, who died under strange circumstances on the moors. He has since remarried Lady Enid, a former stage actress, whose uneasy presence at Mandacrest fuels resentment among the staff—particularly the stern maid Jane Twisden and the coarse, one-legged groundskeeper Nicodemus Underwood.

Lady Enid experiences supernatural terror when she’s attacked by what appears to be a vampire. Seeking answers, Lord Edgar travels to Egypt, where he uncovers and briefly reanimates the mummy of Princess Pev Amri (another anagram of “vampire”). Returning home with the sarcophagus, he becomes obsessed with rooting out a wolf believed to be responsible for his family’s tragedies.

The play mercilessly lampoons such Victorian novels as “Rebecca,” and “Wuthering Heights,” as well as classic horror films, while maintaining a “high-camp seriousness.”

Audiences who have witnessed the show at other locales marvel at its whiplash pace, clever wordplay, and the pure delight of seeing two actors embody an entire world of ghosts, monsters, and melodramatic mayhem.

“The Mystery of Irma Vep” opens Friday and runs through Nov. 2. Tickets available here. https://milltownplayers.ludus.com/index.php?sections=events&widget=1

Cast - Cameron Woodson and Drake King

Dressers/Crew - Frances Brown, Kayla Wong, Kelsey Wong, Stephanie Wong

Director/Scenic Designer/Props Coordinator - Will Ragland

Stage Manager - Cary Doyle

Assistant Stage Manager - Jay Bearden

Lighting Designer - Tony Penna

Scenic Artist - Abby Brown

Costumers - Cyndi Lohrmann, Betsy Allardice, Kris Yon

Audio Engineer - Josef Wehunt