enlargePhotos by Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer
"THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP," directed by Christopher Grabowski
WHERE: Portland Stage Company, 25A Forest Ave.
WHEN: Previews at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Regular performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, through Feb. 21. Additional performances at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and 2 p.m. Feb. 18.
TICKETS: $13 to $36
INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS: 774-0465;www.portlandstage.org
CAST & CREW: Actors Tom Ford and Steve Strafford; set design by Anita Stewart; costumes by Loyce Arthur; lighting by Christopher Studley; sound by Gregg Carville; stage manager Shane Van Vliet.
RUN TIME: Approximately two hours, plus an intermission.
PORTLAND — Two weeks ago, Tom Ford and Steven Strafford had never met.
Now, they're about to become one.
The two actors star in the Portland Stage Company production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep," which opens this week. It's a two-actor madcap comedy, but requires a much larger effort.
Ford and Strafford are on stage for almost the entire show, each playing multiple characters of either sex and each enduring dozens of complete costume changes and many more partial changes. Some are so quick, the actors don't have the luxury of pausing between lines. The script and stage directions require them to continue acting and moving while changing.
"This is one of the hardest shows I have ever done," said Ford, who may consider wearing a pedometer on stage to measure his steps during the show. He imagines he will cover miles in the course of a single performance.
"It's epic," Stafford said. "It never stops. I was in 'Spamalot.' I thought there were a lot of costume changes in that show. But that one is nothing compared to this. It's an incredible acting ride."
For the show to soar, the two will have to develop a level of stage chemistry often attained only by actors who have worked together over extended periods.
But over the course of preparation during these last two weeks in an oversized rehearsal room full of props, costumes and an evolving stage set -- and with the help of director Christopher Grabowski, the backstage crew and a grueling schedule -- Ford and Strafford have begun to achieve their goal of working the show as one.
They are starting to see themselves as a single organism, instead of two actors working toward a common goal.
"For this to succeed, we have to trust that we are all in this together," said Strafford. "There is no one in this room not working hard."
AN INSTANT HIT IN 1984
"The Mystery of Irma Vep" has attained cult-level status in U.S. theater circles because of its quirkiness and depth. It is the product of playwright Charles Ludlam, who wrote the script as an acting vehicle for himself and his partner, Everett Quinton.
Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company opened "Irma Vep" in 1984 at One Sheridan Square in New York's Greenwich Village. It became an instant hit, and Ludlam's most popular play.
It has since become one of the most-produced plays in America, and is firmly entrenched as a piece of America's comedy legacy in a manner similar to the way "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has become part of our cultural lexicon.
At Portland Stage, artistic director Anita Stewart slotted "Irma Vep" for winter because she believes audiences look for a reason to get out and laugh this time of year. Historically, a four-week run of a popular comedy in January and February has proven to be the best-attended show of the season at the theater, Stewart said.
"It's a good time to do something fun and light and take the audiences to someplace very different," she said.
"Irma Vep" is different, for sure.
It defies easy categorization, and ranges from high-brow to low-brow, from farcical to sophisticated. It is silly and serious, melodramatic and madcap all at once.
The pace of the play is frantic as well. The actors get no breaks and no chance to rest, even during intermission when their time will be consumed with redressing and preparing for the second act. Similarly, the play challenges the backstage crew, as well as the sound and light technicians working in the booth at the back of the theater.
In addition to developing a rapport between themselves, the actors will have to build relationships with their assistants backstage, who are charged with helping them in and out of costumes, often while on the move from one spot on the set to another.
The play is set in a Victorian manor house in England, and the core of the story revolves around the circumstances of Egyptologist Lord Hillcrest, played by Stafford. Irma Vep, Hillcrest's wife, has died, but her presence still inhabits the lonely manor.
Hillcrest returns home from a research trip with a new wife, Lady Enid, played by Ford. Lady Enid fails to connect with the charm of the manor, and instead is bothered by an eerie, forboding mood that invades the place. In her world, vampires, werewolves and mummies wait in the shadows.
ZANY AND SOPHISTICATED
The key to a successful interpretation of this script, says Grabowski, is for the actors to embrace the zaniness that Ludlam intended without sacrificing attention to the brilliance of his words. That's what makes this show so hard to do well, the director said.
It's a sophisticated script, and the jokes often have many layers. Ludlam laced his script with references to Shakespeare, Ibsen, James Joyce and an entire genre of horror films. There are even Biblical references in there.
Some people may get those references, others may not.
"It truly is one of the most profound plays in America," Grabowski said. "But it is not always done well or done right. Sometimes the darker and more serious aspects of the play are downplayed or left out altogether in favor of a heightened level of zaniness. So it's not just zany. It also has high aspirations, and we're interested in achieving both."
For Ford, "The Mystery of Irma Vep" represents a return to one of his favorite theaters. He has appeared on the Forest Avenue stage many times over the years, including in his watershed role in the one-actor show "I Am My Own Wife." He's also appeared in "Iron Kisses," "The Woman in Black" "Lend Me a Tenor" and "A Christmas Carol."
Grabowski is also a Portland Stage regular, having directed "Iphigenia and Other Daughters," "Manifest, Collected Stories" and, most recently, "Lobby Hero."
Strafford will be making his Portland Stage debut, and he's excited about the prospects. He's heard good things about Portland audiences, and is looking forward to intense interactions with the crowd.
"For me, the dream audience for this show is one that comes out ready to react," he said. "If they find a joke (to be) bad, I want to hear them groan. I want a vocal, on-board audience. I want people to show up and become a part of the show itself. Bring it on."
COSTUME CRAZINESS WILL ENSUE
Costume designer Loyce Arthur calls "The Mystery of Irma Vep" "interesting and intensely weird."
Arthur, who teaches at the University of Iowa, is back in Portland to design and help build dozens of costumes for use in the high-octane comedy, which opens this week.
The challenge is making costumes that are authenic to teh 19th century, and also utilitarian. The actors have to shed one set of garb and don another at a moment's notice, she said.That's not easy when one costume might be a bustle dress, which is inherently complicated to put on and take off.
"The guys have to go from a big dress to a shirt and pants in a matter of seconds. What they are going to do is wear the shirt and pants underneath. They will be wearing many layers. We have to design costumes that allow them to do their jobs without being restrictive, but still be authentic to the period."
"Irma Vep" is Arthur's second show at Portland Stage. Last season, she came to town to design and build costumes for "Peer Gynt."
– Bob Keyes
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at: bkeyes@pressherald.com
Copyright 2010 by The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved.
'Christmas Carol' cast delivers dose of recession-proof cheer
THEATER REVIEW
WHAT: "A Christmas Carol"
WHO: Portland Stage Company
WHERE: 25A Forest Ave., Portland
WHEN: Through Dec. 24; reviewed Saturday
FOR INFORMATION: call 774-0465 or go towww.portlandstage.org
It took more than a tax break or infusion of stimulus money to get businessman Ebenezer Scrooge out of his ill temper. He had to be scared silly and led by the hand to grasp the big picture and see the error of his ways.
Portland Stage Company's annual production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" gets that point across in entertaining fashion again this holiday season.
Director and set designer Anita Stewart may tweak the show ever so slightly from year to year to suit different cast members, but the story of sagacious ghosts and spirited families always remains at center stage.
It's a production that keeps things hopping with narrative lines tossed around by a large group of performers who come and go as the saga unfolds (or unfurls, if one thinks of the drapes, sheets and gowns employed to enrich the scenes of new developments on Scrooge's journey).
As witnessed in Saturday's matinee performance, it's the energy of the Christmas spirit, in the now familiar sense that Dickens helped to create with this story, that carries the show. Indeed, if one were to quibble, it would be that things tended to slow down during the quieter passages.
But such contrast, it can be argued, is dramatically necessary and certainly should not deter anyone from seeing this delightful show. Children, particularly, are well represented in the cast, and it was clear that kids in the audience loved seeing their talented cohorts enliven the celebratory scenes which were uniformly rich and uplifting in the best sense of the term.
John D. McNally takes the role of Scrooge this time around and, whether bellowing angrily at just about everyone in the early scenes or dancing with joy later on, he's great fun to see at his work.
Veteran Mark Honan again gives his Bob Cratchit a warmly comic persona that was a highlight of the performance. Trained in London, Honan must have encountered the ghost of Dickens himself at some point in his career to be so good at setting the tone for his character's milieu.
A newcomer to the main stage, Abbie Killeen, was also noteworthy in her roles as the ghosts. Her expressive postures added a strangely compelling element that was both mysterious and funny.
Dan Domingues and Sally Wood reprise their forthright roles as generous facilitators of Scrooge's eventual reaching out to his fellow man. Daniel Noel and Maureen Butler also play important roles.
Costumes by Susan Thomas, lighting by Bryon Winn and live, sometimes quite edgy, music by Hans Indigo Spencer add to what is another fine holiday production.
Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.
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'Gin Game' sweet and scary
THEATER REVIEW
"THE GIN GAME"
WHERE: Portland Stage Company, 25A Forest Ave., Portland
WHEN: Reviewed on Friday; play runs through Nov. 15
TICKETS: 774-0465,www.portlandstage.org
There are a few good, honest laughs in D.L. Coburn's "The Gin Game," the latest production from the Portland Stage Company. But, in Friday's opening performance, more than a few members of the audience were compelled to engage in what could only be described as nervous laughter.
That's not totally surprising. This 1977 play has more up its sleeve than simply depicting a couple of cranky old characters squabbling over a game of cards. In true tragicomic fashion, there's a hard edge beneath much of the humor that makes the characters despair of a comfortable denouement to their lives.
The play has resonance for just about anybody who has reached a vantage point that offers some perspective on life. At its most basic level, it's about what happens and where you go when independent living is no longer an option. In a broader sense, it's about what happens when it may be too late to make changes in the trajectory of an unsatisfying life.
In addition to all that, "The Gin Game" is simply a very nicely constructed piece of theater.
The play takes place on the covered back porch of a low-end nursing home. Though an attendant makes a couple of brief appearances, all the dialogue takes place between Mr. Weller Martin and Ms. Fonsia Dorsey, two elderly residents who meet and engage in a tentative friendship around a game of cards.
A shared dislike for where they are and, we learn as the play unfolds, how their lives have gone draws them into an uneasy alliance. But perhaps too much anger accompanies their deepest regrets for there ever to be a satisfactory resolution.
A brief waltz and some light acts of affection only confirm the stakes in their relationship.
Religion and free will are among the heavy topics that the author, a bit of a one-hit wonder, folded into this award-winning play. Issues specific to old age are also very much on the table.
Cristine McMurdo-Wallis, remembered for her role on the same stage as the iron-willed nun in the play "Doubt," finds the perfect, if appropriately uneasy, balance between Fonsia's soft and hard sides. Her character's talent for soft-selling a rigid pride and forceful competitiveness leads to an insight which comes just a little too late. McMurdo-Wallis makes us feel it all.
As Weller, J. Patrick McNamara makes a somewhat stylized delivery match up to a male personality deeply in the closet about his own limitations. Turning on a dime from lonely nice guy to table-pounding fanatic, his Weller is a very conflicted and sad fellow indeed.
Director Sally Wood deserves credit as does set and costume designer Anita Stewart for bringing the audience into the realm of those folks who, dispossessed by time, fate and their own weaknesses, force us, however reluctantly, to think about what's coming when we are dealt our last hand.
Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.
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'Gin Game' is a classic that never grows old
October 29, 2009
Courtesy of Portland Stage | Photo by Darren Setlow
IF YOU GO
"THE GIN GAME," directed by Sally Wood
WHERE: Portland Stage, 25A Forest Ave.
WHEN: Previews at 7:30 tonight; opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday and continues with regular performances at 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Through Nov. 15.
TICKETS: $13 to $36. 774-0465; www.portlandstage.org
CAST AND CREW: Stars Cristine McMurdo-Wallis and J. Patrick McNamara; Anita Stewart, set and costume design; Shannon Zura, lighting; Stephen Swift, sound; Shane Van Vliet, stage manager
RUN TIME: 1:45 with intermission
PORTLAND — "The Gin Game," a tragic comedy about aging and friendship, has been produced the world over and received not one, but two successful productions on Broadway.
Each year, when Portland Stage surveys ticket buyers about plays to include in future seasons, "The Gin Game" rates as an audience favorite.
Finally, audiences have their wishes granted.
Beginning Friday, Portland Stage opens a three-week run of its version of playwright D.L. Coburn's classic story. It's the first time Portland Stage has produced the play, which premiered in Los Angeles in 1976 and opened on Broadway a year later with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy in the lead roles.
This is a two-character play about the lonely side of aging, with moments of scathing humor. Weller and Fonsia are residents at a nursing home – strangers, really, until they meet at the card table. Weller has been a resident at the Bentley Retirement Home for some time, and Fonsia is a new resident.
She is distraught, and Weller befriends Fonsia with a game of gin. The friendly card games turn into psychological warfare as they break each other down and attempt to learn each other's secrets. The result is a card table thrown in anger.
It's set in modern times, and the action takes place over the course of a series of Sunday afternoons on the porch of the retirement home.
Sally Wood, a local actor and director, directs "The Gin Game" and brings an interesting perspective to her work. Wood is a new mom, and during the run-up to this show, she often walked with her baby on the grounds of a neighborhood retirement home.
She found herself looking in the windows and wondering about the lives of the people who live there.
"No one says, 'I can't wait to get older and move into a retirement home,"' muses Wood. "But, like Weller says in the play, he makes the point that if you live long enough, you're probably going to end up here."
This play stars Cristine McMurdo-Wallis as Fonsia and J. Patrick McNamara as Weller.
McMurdo-Wallis is a Portland Stage regular. "The Gin Game" will be her 10th show in the past six seasons at Portland Stage.
McNamara has extensive credits on the stage and screen. He's worked on stage in New York and Los Angeles, appeared in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "1941," among other movies, and on TV in "Dallas," "Knott's Landing" and "Hill Street Blues."
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:
bkeyes@pressherald.com