The Mystery of Irma Vep

The Mystery of Irma Vep was a theatre production staged by Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) and Hittebarna in collaboration in 2011, based on the farce by Charles Ludlam.

Bjørn Sæter directed it.

The Mystery of Irma Vep had its premiere in Stavern June 23 2011 and was staged at Centralteatret the same autumn.

Information

(Objekt ID 33327)
Object type Production
Premiere June 23, 2011
Produced by , Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre)
Based on The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam
Audience Adults
Language Norwegian
Keywords Theatre, Farce, Horror
Running period June 23, 2011  —  December 17, 2011
Website Oslo Nye Teater
More

At the webpage of Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) the following, among other things, is written about The Mystery of Irma Vep:

"Do you belong among the unhappy people who missed out on the cult success The Mystery of Irma Vep in 1993? Or are you among the many blissful ones who were able to experience the performance and have been longing for a revisit? Time has come! Irma Vep is ready to strike again.

Simon Andersen and Stig-Werner Moe play an amount of men and women, stirring in and out of the stage at a costume change pace which will take the breath away from the spectator. This is a unique, brilliant and funny theatrical game, making you gasp, not believing your own eyes.

We are at the mansion Mandacrest, far out at the windy, English heaths. Fog covers the landscape like a blanket. Here lives Lord Edgar Hillcrest with his faithful housekeeper Jane, and the hunch-back farm boy Nicodemus. The lord is happily newly married to the young actress Lady Enid. She has replaced his last wife, Lady Irma, who disappeared mysteriously.

As the full moon illuminates the mansion and a scary wolf howl is heard far away, a terrible tragedy from the past haunts the newly married...

As in 1996 and in the first Oslo production in 1987, Bjørn Sæter directs the madness, and Per Olav A. Austdahl is responsible for the design and stage design."

Source:

Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre), oslonye.no, 01.02.2013, 

Contributors (13)
Name Role
Charles Ludlam – Playwright
Bjørn Sæter – Adapted by
Morten Borgersen – Translation
Bjørn Sæter – Direction
Peter Golub – Music
Per Olav Austdahl – Stage design
Trude Bergh – Costume design
Marianne Forsberg – Costume design
Rolf Christian Egseth – Lighting design
Simon Andersen – Actor (Nicodemus Underwood / Lady Enid Mandacrest / Alcazar / Pev Anrym)
Stig-Werner Moe – Actor (Jane Twisden / Lord Edgar Mandacrest / En fremmed / Lady Myrna Vep)
Julie A. Clark – Mask design
Ida Lome Brevik – Dresser
Performance dates
October 19, 2011Oslo Nye Centralteatret New opening
June 23, 2011Galeiscenen, Galeiscenen, Stavern Opening night
Press coverage

Lillian Bikset, Glade grøss (literally: Happyshudders), Dagbladet June 23 2011:

"Stig-Werner Moe and Simon Andersen play all the roles of the farce, with delightfully terrible enthusiasm, impeccable timing and vivid ideas. The dresser Ida Lome Breivik deserves kudos for the fact that the two show up at the right place at the right time in the right outfit. But the costume changing humour is only a small part of what makes Irma Vep funny. Ludlam's farce plays with genres and is a parody of horror even more than a comedy of revolving doors."