“Irma Vep” returns, with calculated comedy, to Next Act

The Mystery of Irma Vep doesn’t make a lick of sense. But that’s not the scathing condemnation it looks like.

Instead, thanks to John McGivern, Norman Moses and director David Cecsarini, Next Act channels that madness – and even a few hard-to-ignore flaws – into a solid night of theater.

Irma Vep’s plot is tough to pick out while you’re watching, and only just a bit easier after the fact. Playwright Charles Ludlam’s central plot – Enid, a new bride, tries to uncover the secrets of her husband Edgar’s home, history and first wife – is quickly embellished with plotlines involving werewolves, vampires, Egyptian tomb robbing, domestic dysfunction, ghostly reappearances and, of course, murder most foul. Chaotic is an understatement.

Adding to the confusion – but in the best way – is the play’s central premise: its eight male and female roles are performed by only two actors, who must be up to the tasks of embodying each of their characters and performing the rapid-fire costume changes necessary. And those aren’t easy costume changes: McGivern often must switch from a one-legged handyman to the elaborately begowned lady of the house (once, alternating between the two using a door as a de facto changing room), and Moses faces the same problem, required to be a monster one minute and a strait-laced, gruff housemaid the next.

McGivern’s had more experience with the role’s requirements – he co-helmed a production of Vep in 2008 – but Moses is equally matched. Neither missed a beat Wednesday night, morphing from character to character without any apparent delays or stumblings.

Much of the humor comes from these numerous switches, both in their mere existence and in the sly asides McGivern and Moses make about them. (My favorite: the second-act moment when McGivern, as Enid, asks Moses to bring her Nicodemus, another character played by McGivern, and doesn’t understand the latter’s hesitation.) But the play’s comedy overall, supported by groan-worthy puns, physical gags and the occasional audience interaction is on a slow burn. You may not laugh for the first four or five minutes, and you’ll probably never encounter a gag that’ll laugh the breath out of you. But it’s just enough to keep you always grinning.

Along with the emphasis on turning any plot development that could be mistaken for drama into all-out melodrama, this approach has the effect of making the duo’s performances seem calibrated specifically to the tenor of Milwaukee audiences – McGivern in particular, who can turn a wink into rounds of applause. It’s a strategy I hesitate to identify as good or bad. As much as I personally prefer a style of comedy that doesn’t seems so well-oiled-machine, I can’t deny I found myself liking the way McGivern and Moses approached the piece; the comedy is really quite good. And the fact that the two are able to calibrate their work in such a way speaks volumes about their talent as actors.

But I would have liked a little more method to Irma Vep’s madness. The first act, half at Edgar’s estate, half in ancient Egypt, feels like two completely different plays. Characters behave as if they don’t know their own backstory until it’s time to reveal it. These are textual flaws made better by the level of proficiency McGivern and Moses show, but for an audience member they can’t help but be disorienting.

Irma Vep is, without a doubt, a clever, comedic night of theater. I just wish it didn’t leave more mysteries to answer after it’s over than before.

Next Act’s The Mystery of Irma Vep, also featuring Matt Zembrowski as the “Mad Gothic Organist,” runs through May 26. Tickets are $38, $28 for Wednesday matinees. To order, visit the online box office or call (414) 278-0765.