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Theatre & Box Office Reviews Download the Program
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Cast Etienne Plucheux Dr. Finache Lucienne Homenides De Histangua Raymonde Chandebise Victor Emmanuel Chandebise Romain Tournel Carlos Homenides De Histangua Eugenie Augustin Feraillon Olympe Baptistin Herr Schwarz Poche |
Directors' Corner from Sheri and Deb The late British writer John Mortimer once noted that "farce is tragedy played at one thousand revolutions per minute," and French playwright Georges Feydeau himself observed that "the comical is the natural refraction of a drama." Nothing could be more descriptive of Mortimer’s brilliant translation of Feydeau’s classic boulevard farce, A Flea In Her Ear. After all, the elements of this delicious confection are not so funny taken one by one. Impotence, physical affliction, alcoholism, a whiff of infidelity and bizarre confusion over identity – all these in the hands of, say, a Tennessee Williams or a Sam Shepard might leave us feeling pretty grim by the end of the evening. But here, played at top speed, with a perfect blend of Feydeau’s Continental consciousness and Mortimer’s wicked British wit, they are simply wildly funny. There is a dizzying succession of entrances and exits (one devotee with a little too much time on his hands has calculated that the characters come and go nearly 300 times during the course of the three acts), and just in case that isn’t enough to make your head spin, there is an actual revolving bed as well. This frothy play has its darker depths; some critics place Feydeau in a direct line with later absurdist playwrights like Ionesco and Beckett, whose wit was always heavily iced with a sense of despair. However, the surface sparkles so brightly and with such manic wit that anyone who wishes to spend an evening indulging in pure, joyful nuttiness will find a delightful sanctuary in A Flea In Her Ear. |
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This masterpiece of farce is one of the funniest plays ever written. To test her husband’s fidelity, Yvonne sends a letter from an imaginary admirer suggesting a romantic hotel rendezvous that touches off a dizzy string of madcap mix-ups and mistaken identities. A whole array of buffoons, simpletons and cads are pulled into the deception creating a hilarious evening of door-slamming, bed-hopping hi jinx that will leave audiences rolling in the aisles. Directors Sheri Nash and Deb Weiss are proud to open CTG's 49th season with this raucous comedy.