The Mystery of Irma Vep
Theatre
Pot of gold
by Natasha Hay
In 1968, Judy Garland’s life was in tatters. Hollywood wouldn’t touch her; she was a mess, existing on booze, “grown-up sweets” and men. Aged 46, she was about to marry controlling husband No 5.
It’s this miserable final period of her life that Peter Quilter recreates in his moving yet very funny drama, End of the Rainbow, the ATC’s end-of-year show. The setting is London’s Ritz Hotel (a gorgeously sumptuous set by John Parker) where Garland has been persuaded by her new man and manager, Mickey Deans (Edwin Wright as the enigmatic charmer), to attempt a comeback at the Talk of the Town.
As the season advances – cue the musical numbers – Garland crumbles. She performs high, forgets her lines, tells inappropriate anecdotes and behaves appallingly, onstage and off. But she is never less than captivating and inspirational.
Even in the depths of despair, she had a quick wit, so Quilter’s compelling portrait of the exploited star tumbling down a yellow brick road of addiction is not quite the miseryfest you’d expect. Quite a few of the one-line quips also come from her devoted pianist (a great comic turn by Paul Barrett, though almost upstaged by his wig), who seems to represent all the adoring “friends of Dorothy”.
Ellie Smith is the perfect person to play Judy Garland. As the troubled diva, she embraces the role with a bellyful of fire and passion, conveying vivaciousness, petulance and terrible, lonely despair. A sensational singer with a big voice, the diminutive Smith belts out the numbers with true Garland panache (with a recorded orchestral big-band sound), yet also manages to sound tired and fragile. It’s a finely nuanced performance of a woman on the edge – for, at this time, Garland’s performances could be dreadful or brilliant.
A slow burner, the drama doesn’t really get going until the second half, and occasionally the cavernous Sky City seems the wrong venue for such an intimate portrayal. But director Colin McColl skilfully navigates the tightrope between comedy and tragedy, with the songs building in intensity to an aching rendering of “Over the Rainbow” – followed wonderfully by a joyously upbeat reprise of “Get Happy”. You could almost believe that all those troubles will melt away like lemon drops.
Over at the Silo, it’s brazen silliness. Their Christmas offering is US cult classic The Mystery of Irma Vep – an outrageous farce from 1984, written by Charles Ludlam for his Ridiculous Theatrical Company. This NZ premiere is a delicious treat and a comic tour-de-force for the two actors, Oliver Driver and Michael Hurst, in multiple roles.
Part good old-fashioned melodrama and part vaudeville, Irma Vep mocks not only those Victorian gothic thrillers known as “penny dreadfuls” but also Shakespeare, Poe, the Brontes, Hitchcock. Onstage musician Jason Smith provides a grab-bag of classic horror-film atmospherics to underscore the action.
The play opens in the spooky drawing room (a beautifully detailed set by John Verryt) of a Victorian manor in the late 19th century. The manor, Mandercrest, references Rebecca, and much of the first act is a parody of Hitchcock’s film, with a sinister housekeeper called Jane (Driver) and Hurst as the delectable, innocent Enid who’s just married stuffy Egyptologist Lord Edgar Hillcrest (Driver). His first wife, Lady Irma Vep, died recently under mysterious circumstances. There’s talk of werewolves and vampires in the foggy moors ...
As the plot gets increasingly absurd and the action moves to an Egyptian tomb, the costume changes become more frenzied; the cracking pace set by director Jennifer Ward-Lealand gives the actors free rein to clown around. They zip on and offstage, role-changing with astonishing speed – even in mid-sentence. The best fun is when wigs are still askew or part of the previous costume is showing. Driver and Hurst are utterly brilliant, clearly delighting in the theatrics and making the most of their physical differences and ingenious character quirks. It’s gaspingly good fun, though – for all the hilarity, I had chills running down my spine.
END OF THE RAINBOW, by Peter Quilter; directed by Colin McColl, ATC, Sky City Theatre, Auckland (till December 8).
THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP, by Charles Ludlam; directed by Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Silo, Auckland (till December 15).
