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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewA Flea in Her Ear
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The hotel looks as if it has been carved out of nougat. — Madame Chandebise
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Jonathan Cake as M Tournel and Tom Hollander as Monsieur Chandebise (Photo: Manuel Harlan) |
The history of this version used by director Sir Richard Eyre is like a slice of theatrical history. In 1966 John Mortimer was commissioned by Kenneth Tynan to provide a translation of Feydeau's farce for the National Theatre. It opened with Albert Finney in the lead role and Mortimer's movie version was filmed in 1967 with Rex Harrison and Rachel Roberts. Brewers Dictionary of Theatre tells us that Mortimer changed Harrison's part slightly after the actor pleaded, "I don't think audiences would like a totally impotent man as a hero. They wouldn't accept me. Couldn't I be made just a little impotent now and then?" Interesting!
Although French farce and any farces have not been showing there in recent years ( apart from a respectable revival run of the Tony award winning Boeing Boeing) they have provided the inspiration for many of our best television comedies such as Fawlty Towers. Indeed the Spanish character in A Flea in Her Ear, Carlos Homednides de Histangua brilliantly played by the very funny John Marquez, could be a version of Fawlty Towers'' flamenco dancing waiter Manuel as national stereotypes blow up from an era not obsessed with political rectitude.
Lisa Dillon is the sexually neglected wife Raymonde (confusingly French women have names which whilst being the feminine version of the masculine, sound the same in English). Suspicious of her husband, she sets up an honey entrapment with a letter written by her best friend Lucienne Homednides de Histangua (Fiona Glascott). The naming is the least of things confusing. Misunderstandings abound when handsome Romain Tournel (Jonathan Cake) becomes convinced that the invitation to the dodgy hotel is intended for him and from Madame Chandebise, and Homednides recognises his own wife's handwriting. Cake as Romain is probably a foot taller than Hollander's M. Chandebise so their appearance together takes on a comic visual.
The second act's luscious Art Nouveau set of the Hotel Coq d'Or is a riot with revolving walls, pink cabbage roses and clients, including an eccentric Prussian (Walter van Dyck) being pleasured by girls in corsets. This is the hotel we are told looks as if it has been carved out of nougat. I thought it looked like a 3D Alphonse Mucha poster. Here the unfortunate Poche is mistreated by his employer hotel manager, Augustin Feraillon (Lloyd Hutchinson) except that half the time he is abusing Poche's double, poor Monsieur Chandebise.
There are speed of light costume changes so that Poche or Chandebise can exit and re-enter by another door. Tom Hollander is the pivot for this period production as he seamlessly switches doppelganger roles. We are told that there are 274 entrances in this play so the doors are forever opening. He delivers the tight arsed walk of the self important insurance broker and the vacant gaze and stupidity of the hotel porter.
The ensemble cast work well and the costumes and sets are delightful, especially Oliver Cotton's dapper Doctor Finache and Tim McMullan's manservant Etienne Plucheux married to an ex-Madame. Freddie Fox as Camille has the difficult role of pronouncing his part without consonants which is pretty much incomprehensible to all until he gets a silver palate to correct his speech impediment. John Marquez' Spaniard delightfully pronounces all his 'j's as y. He's "not at all yealous, should his wife reyect him!" and finally throws his wife into a passionate Pasa Doble clinch with some rather fine foot stamping flamenco in between. Maybe he should try out for Strictly Come Dancing?
Though I tend to prefer word driven humor to farce this production expertly pleases at a frantically hectic but silly level. The night I saw A Flea in Her Ear, it was being enjoyed by the Primate of All England, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Just as well there are no English adulterers in A Flea in Her Ear and all this bed swerving and shenanigans are confined to the Continent!
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| A Flea in Her Ear
Written by Georges Feydeau In a translation by John Mortimer Directed by Richard Eyre Starring: Tom Hollander, Lisa Dillon, John Marquez, Jonathan Cake, Fiona Glascott, Lloyd Hutchinson, Oliver Cotton, Tim McMullan With: Freddie Fox, Maggie Service, Rebecca Night, Di Botcher, Walter van Dyck, Greg Baldock, Peter Cadden, Emma Campbell-Jones, William Findlay, Kirsten Hazel Smith Set Design: Rob Howell Costume Design: Sue Blane Lighting: Mark Henderson Sound: Gregory Clarke Sponsored by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and American Airlines Running time: Two hours 20 minutes with one interval. Box Office: 0844 871 7609 Booking to 5th March 2011 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 15th December 2010 performance at the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, London SE1 8NB (Rail/Tube: Waterloo) |
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