“A Flea in Her Ear” features ‘charming characters’ and ‘good laughs’

Collin Simpson // Contributing Writer

Wertheim Performing Arts Center opened its doors Friday night for FIU Theatre’s first performance of “A Flea in Her Ear,” a farce full of charming characters, sexual innuendos and mayhem.

As Raymonde Chandebise begins to doubt her husband’s loyalty to her and their marriage, she and an old friend plan an elaborate trick to catch him in the act of adultery by faking a letter from a mysterious seductress. Fast-forward through a  miscommunication, a drunken doppelganger and one he/she hotel proprietor and you have an ensemble of colorful characters all caught in the cross fires of fun chaos.

The cast and crew clearly had fun with the show and as difficult as a period piece is in theatre, they executed this performance in a rather entertaining fashion. Each actor in the performance brought a certain spirit to each character.

From Etienne, the nosey butler with the brilliantly delivered punch lines (played by Brandon Hoffman), to Camille, the young nephew who can’t pronounce his consonants (played by David Neale), every actor had fun with each of their parts, no matter how big, small or odd. Although it took them the first act to warm up, it was evident the cast had fun with the show, which in turn, called for the audience to have fun watching the show.

Special attention should be called to one of the leads of the show, Allyn Moriyon, who played both Victor Chandebise, the dignified husband in question and Poche, the drastically different drunken redcap who has Victor’s face. Seamlessly, Moriyon was able to change from one character to the other within mere seconds of each other. To the point that it started to feel like there were actually two different actors playing these characters instead of just the one, which is no small accomplishment.

The technical aspects of the show were equally as commendable. The costumes and set were crafted to really set the play in 1910 France. The first scenes that took place in the Chandebise home were simply designed to simulate a French home from 1910 which was both effective and clever, as it was used to cover up the extravagant set of “The Frisky Puss Hotel” which was where most of the chaos ensued.

The second act’s set is when the characters finally arrive at the very gaudy Frisky Puss Hotel,  where it is obvious that scenic designer Steven Lopez had the most fun designing the set. From a technical aspect, a lot of the set design choices were genius. It had so many levels and depth, like using the in-house orchestra pit as a stage exit and having a functional trap door, which had its comedic use in the show.

“A Flea in Her Ear” was a fun comedy that effectively had the audience laughing hard and loud throughout the whole night. The cast hit their comedic timing, played off each other like they had been working together for years and breathed life into the old farce. It is a highly recommended performance for a night of good laughs and punch lines that will stay with you for days to come.

 

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