Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
The Mystery of Irma Vep
October 22, 2009
Mystery Allusion #3 - BUT WHERE ARE THE SNOWS OF YESTERYEAR?
Charles Ludlam’s knowledge of literature was formidable, and he peppered The Mystery of Irma Vep with canny allusions. We’re featuring several of those allusions every week until the opening of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Today’s selection is:
BALLAD OF THE LADIES OF BYGONE TIMES
(Ballade des dames du temps jadis)
BACKGROUND: This medieval French poem was composed by François Villon for his greatest work, The Grand Testament. Born in 1431, the French poet Villon was also known as a vagabond, a thief, and a murderer.
THE ALLUSION: Jane (Erik Hellman) utters the line, “But where are the snows of yesteryear?” (In the play, she’s musing about the disappearance of werewolf footprints.) It is a famous English translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti of the line “Mais où sont les neiges d’antan?”
Here’s Rossetti’s translation of the poem in full. (French translation is here.)
TELL me now in what hidden way is
Lady Flora the lovely Roman?
Where’s Hipparchia, and where is Thais,
Neither of them the fairer woman?
Where is Echo, beheld of no man,
Only heard on river and mere,—
She whose beauty was more than human? . . .
But where are the snows of yester-year?
Where’s Héloise, the learned nun,
For whose sake Abeillard, I ween,
Lost manhood and put priesthood on?
(From Love he won such dule and teen!)
And where, I pray you, is the Queen
Who willed that Buridan should steer
Sewed in a sack’s mouth down the Seine? . . .
But where are the snows of yester-year?
White Queen Blanche, like a queen of lilies,
With a voice like any mermaiden,—
Bertha Broadfoot, Beatrice, Alice,
And Ermengarde the lady of Maine,—
And that good Joan whom Englishmen
At Rouen doomed and burned her there,—
Mother of God, where are they then? . . .
But where are the snows of yester-year?
Nay, never ask this week, fair lord,
Where they are gone, nor yet this year,
Save with this much for an overword,—
But where are the snows of yester-year?
Check this blog again for a brand new Ludlam literary trick!
October 21, 2009
Mystery Allusion #2 - THE MUMMY
Charles Ludlam’s knowledge of literature was formidable, and he peppered The Mystery of Irma Vep with canny allusions. We’re featuring several of those allusions every week until the opening of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Today’s selection is:
THE MUMMY
BACKGROUND: Karl Freund’s 1932 film The Mummy invented a new role for horror star Boris Karloff, who had starred as the monster in Frankenstein the previous year. (Jack Pierce did Karloff’s makeup for both Frankenstein and The Mummy.) Inspired by the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the film tells the story of Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest mummified alive who is accidentally resurrected by archaeologists in modern times. Disguising himself as a modern Egyptian named Ardath Bey, Imhotep uses the Scroll of Toth to help him resurrect the soul of his ancient lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon.
THE ALLUSION: Lord Edgar (Erik Hellman) is not only landed gentry but an accomplished Egyptologist and sarcophologist. Accompanied by Alcazar, a suspicious guide, he goes to Cairo to unearth the tomb of Egyptian princess Pev Amri.
The trailer for The Mummy:
Check this blog again for a brand new Ludlam literary trick!
October 20, 2009
Mystery Allusion #1
Charles Ludlam’s knowledge of literature was formidable, and he peppered The Mystery of Irma Vep with canny allusions. Starting today, we’re going to feature several of those allusions every week until the opening of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Today’s selection is:
GHOSTS: a play by Henrik Ibsen
BACKGROUND: First performed in 1882, Ghosts is Henrik Ibsen’s commentary on nineteenth-century morality, full of buried secrets, hereditary philandering, and syphilitic madness.
THE ALLUSION: Remarkably, Ludlam begins Irma Vep by paraphrasing the first three lines of Ghosts. Observe the comparison:
| THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP | GHOSTS |
| Jane: Watch what you’re doing! You’re soaking wet! Don’t track mud in here! | Regina: What do you want? Stay where you are, you’re dripping wet! |
| Nicodemus: It’s God’s good rain, my girl! | Engstrand: It’s God’s good rain, my girl. |
| Jane: It’s the devil’s rain, that’s what it is! | Regina: It’s the devil’s rain, that’s what it is! |
