Jack Studio Theatre – until 4 January 2026
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
The Jack’s Christmas show is always a wonderful alternative to the tinsel and tiaras of panto. This year’s revival of Charles Ludlam’s camp comic horror is a real rib tickler.
Karl Swinyard’s atmospheric set immediately sets the tone for a gothic potboiler. Housekeeper Jane and servant Nicodemus provide the exposition needed in the first scene, as the fate of the late Lady Irma and her son are discussed. Lord Edgar’s new wife, Lady Enid, is a poor replacement for Irma Vep in Jane’s opinion, but Nicodemus is smitten.
All characters are played by James Keningale and Joe Newton, with admirable quick changes of Martin J Robinson’s costumes. The set up is a little slow, building up the tension to the appearances of the creatures that haunt Mandacrest Estate, but from then the pace quickens and the jokes come fast and furious as Lady Irma’s shrine is violated and Lord Edgar suddenly goes to Egypt on a quest to reanimate an ancient mummy after Lady Enid is bitten by a vampire. As you would. Laurel Marks’ lighting and Julian Starr’s sound design are gloriously OTT as the supernatural shenanigans begin.
Ludlam’s lampooning of penny dreadfuls gothic horrors and melodramas is relentless, and the play feels like the dream you’d have after binging Carry On Screaming, League of Gentlemen, The 39 Steps and an Ernie Wise’s Play What I Wrote. The humour is camp, silly and knowing, and full of references for movie and theatre buffs. Director Kate Bannister directs smoothly and skilfully and James Keningale and Joe Newton are wonderfully po-faced as the insane characters.
Slick and silly escapism with a supernatural twist, The Mystery of Irma Vep is an ideal ghost story for Christmas.
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