CRITIC'S PICK
You’ve probably never had a flea in your ear, but you can imagine that it would bug you considerably and perhaps inspire bizarre behavior. That’s what happens in Georges Feydeau’s 1907 classic French sex farce A Flea in Her Ear. Not a real flea, mind you, but a spark of annoying suspicion is what sets comic pandemonium in motion at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s final production of its 25th season.
Raymonde Chandebise (Kelly Mengelkoch) thinks her husband Victor (Billy Chace) is having an affair, since his ardor for her has diminished. (In reality, he’s been having problems with his manhood and has sought medical attention.) Raymonde discusses this with her friend Lucienne (Sara Clark), and they concoct a plan to catch Victor being unfaithful at the Frisky Puss Hotel: Lucienne pens a letter from an anonymous admirer offering an assignation. Raymonde expects to confront him when he turns up.
Of course, nothing unfolds as planned. Victor, a stuffy insurance agent, is not tempted. He passes the note to his eager and rather silly bachelor friend Romain Tournel (Justin McCombs), who happens to be someone Raymonde has eyed for her own affair. She is shocked when he turns up at the hotel and is scandalized by his zeal to romance her, since her notion of an affair appears to be holding hands and whispering sweet nothings.
But that’s only the beginning. Victor’s nephew Camille (Brandon Joseph Burton) has a serious speech impediment: Unable to pronounce consonants, he is almost impossible to understand. But that doesn’t stop him from trying to speak unintelligibly and animatedly. It also doesn’t impede his pursuit of the maid Antoinette (Maggie Lou Rader) despite her jealous husband, the butler Etienne (Geoffrey Warren Barnes). There’s also Lucienne’s fiery-tempered Spaniard husband, Don Carlos (Matthew Lewis Johnson), who discovers the letter his wife has written for Raymonde and believes she is preparing to cheat on him.
That’s all in the first of three acts. We move from the Chandebises’ posh Belle Époque home in Paris to the tawdry Frisky Puss Hotel, managed by the officious Ferraillon (Phil Fiorini) and his wife Olympia (Miranda McGee), a onetime courtesan. There’s also Rugby (Josh Katawick), an angry British guest, who no one understands since he speaks furious English.
And then there’s Poche, a hapless servant constantly bullied by Ferraillon. But he’s also a dead ringer for Victor Chandebise. Billy Chace takes on the double role with quirky physical humor and delighted dismay. (Chace’s quick costume changes keep the audience breathless — all the more fun, since we are in on the device while the characters are oblivious.)
The guest room where Raymonde and bachelor Tournel intersect features a revolving bed that quickly rotates should a jealous husband show up. When turned, it’s occupied by the elderly Baptiste (Joneal Joplin). When Tournel slips in with Baptiste, expecting Raymonde, it’s one of many startling — and laugh-out-loud — moments. When Poche enters the room, Raymonde and Tournel think he’s her husband, which ramps up the dismay and silliness several more notches.
All gets sorted out in the third act, but not before Poche turns up at the Chandebise home. Everyone believes Victor has lost his mind, and Poche is bewildered by their behavior. Don Carlos brandishes a pistol until he’s set straight in high-speed Spanish, delivered by Clark’s Lucienne.
Successful farce depends mightily on concise timing and delivery, and Cincy Shakes’ 14 actors are in their element in this production. They’re aided in no small manner by two glorious sets designed by Will Turbyne, who provided scenic design for seven past seasons at the company’s Race Street location. His sedate urban parlor and the hot-pink hotel are picture perfect for the raucous proceedings, replete with multiple doors for jack-in-the-box entries and slamming departures. It’s worth remaining in the theater during one of the two intermissions to watch the set changes.
The insanity of A Flea in Her Ear (presented in a recent adaptation by David Ives, the playwright of the Broadway hit Venus in Fur) has been impeccably orchestrated by director Jeremy Dubin. The program includes a loving essay by him about farce, in which he comments about the form’s relentless pursuit of laughter. He’s achieved it thoroughly. Now pardon me while I scratch this flea in my ear.
A Flea in Her Ear, presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, continues through June 2. Tickets and more info: cincyshakes.com.
