The Horror, the Hilarity

The final act opens with Jane dusting the mummy's casket in the drawing room, where a fresh painting of Lady Enid now hangs. Soon the pair are plucking the theme from the movie Deliverance on dueling dulcimers. A morose Enid remarks that the painting lacks the varnish of purity she once had. "Virginity is the balloon in the carnival of life," the maid retorts. "It vanishes with one prick."

A final confrontation between Jane and Enid and Nicodemus and Edgar at the cusp of revelation involves several frantic chase scenes, a meat ax-wielding villain, a prisoner buried behind a wall, and a whirlwind rendezvous between Lady Enid and the wolf.

John Felix (left) and Tom Wahl portray all of the play's eight characters

Details

Presented through September 3 by Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. Written by Charles Ludlum. Directed by David Arisco. With John Felix and Tom Wahl.

Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables; 305-444-9293

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More About

• John Felix
• Tom Wahl
• Irma Vep
• Enid Hillcrest
• Cairo

Crisply directed by David Arisco, its costumes magically engineered by the sensational Mary Lynne Izzo, and gleefully performed by the comically gifted John Felix and Tom Wahl, The Mystery of Irma Vep is a delirious descent into madness that sticks to the ribs and never lets go.