An evening full of entertainment and sore stomachs because of too much laughing – that’s what the staff and cast of “A Flea In Her Ear” are promising the audience with their latest production. The farce will premier this April 14, but will play again on April 21 to 23 at the Mainstage Theatre. University of Memphis students can get one free ticket. An adult ticket costs $20.
“A Flea In Her Ear” is the Department of Theatre and Dance’s last production this season. Director Meredith Melville suggested this comical play to the department to be included in this year’s repertoire.
“I wanted a large cast and a big comedy with door slamming, running, mistaken identities and romance,” Melville said.
Melville is a graduate student in the directing program at the U of M. “A Flea In Her Ear” is also her final project.
“I love this play because it straddles the line between being witty and slapstick,” Melville said. “It is rare nowadays to find a play that does both so well.”
The farce was originally written by French author Georges Feydeau in 1907, and takes place at the height of the Belle Époque.
The protagonist, Raymonde Chandebise, falsely suspects her husband Victor to be having an affair. What follows, is an absolute chaos of romantic entanglements.
“The play reminds the audience to not jump to conclusions and to keep an open mind,” Melville said. “But it does that in a very witty and entertaining way.”
Jake Bell, a 21-year-old theatre senior, is playing Camille Chandebise, Victor’s nephew with a serious speech impediment.
“The rehearsing process was so much fun and felt like goofing around most of the time,” Bell said. “The plot is completely bonkers and all characters are hilarious. This is a play anybody can enjoy and I expect a lot of laughter.”
Melville chose a modern version of the play by American author David Ives.
“His translation mainly changed the language jokes and wordplays to jokes, Americans can relate to, so the story is more accessible,” Melville said.
Apart from that, Melville also changed the setting of “A Flea In Her Ear” to 1895, which is around five years earlier than the original.
“This seems like a minor change,” she said. “But a lot happened at this turn of the century and we really wanted to convey a feeling of this time’s theatre.”
Especially the unique stage design expresses that is inspired by Art Nouveau, featuring mainly a curvilinear design, an archway and a proscenium, which is the front part of the stage separated from the – at first – hidden back part of the stage.
Melville’s own background has contributed a lot to the developmental process. She spent the last ten years in Chicago as the artistic director for the Alliance Sketch Group and taught and performed improvisation theatre herself. The student cast of “A Flea In Her Ear” learned a lot from her experience.
“She was very engaged in the process and just as hyped as the rest of us,” Steven Linwood Sullivan, who plays Raymonde’s secret suitor Tournel, said.
“She has so much energy and always came running up on stage with new ideas.” The 21-year-old theatre junior loves being part of the farce, he said. “Everyone can play their characters totally over the top, it’s ridiculous,” Linwood said. “I expect the audience to roll over laughing. Stomachs will be sore.”
