Take a pair of suspenders, a continually shifting case of mistaken identity, a jealous, pistol-waiving Spanish husband and a French hotel that prides itself on the fact that “all of our guests are married… Yeah, but not to each other,” and you have the basic ingredients of the Bakersfield College Theater Department’s recent, and ver enjoyable, production of French playwright Georges Feydeau’s “A Flea In Her Ear,” directed by professor Kimberly Chin.
The play started the first of three acts with a pair of Victor’s suspenders being received by his wife after being found in a hotel with a dubious reputation.
This set up a scenario of mistaken identities and quirky characters that most modern situation comedies can only dream of. The first few moments may have been a bit confusing, as little time was spared to set the scene before the plot took off at break-neck speed, daring the audience to keep up with it.
Those that did were treated to some nice performances. While most of the cast did quite well in their roles, of note was Adam Raines, in the role of Camille, a character who has an unfortunate, but quite funny in this case, speech defect that prevents him from voicing consonants.
Raines did a great job of delivering his lines so that the audience could figure out what he was saying, while still seeming convincingly unintelligible. Jotae Fraser also did a very good job of capturing the difficult essence of his character, Dr. Finache’s, off-handed, intellectual mannerisms, but his voice had trouble reaching beyond the first couple of rows in the theater, and Robert “Goose” Scott’s over-the-top portrayal of Don Carlos Homenides De Histangua, was a thing of beauty, combining both vocal and physical comedy with great effect. The plays second act shifts the action into high gear, as the setting moves to the Frisky Puss Hotel.
Here, the set became as much a character in the play as any of the actors, with its stairs, doorways and a revolving bed, providing the perfect backdrop for the comedy that was to ensue.
More layers of mistaken identity are heaped upon the plot when it is discovered that the drunken, dim-witted bellboy of the Puss is the spitting image of Victor Chandebise. The two characters are both played by Justin Pool, who manages to pull off some impressive costume and position changes throughout the act. Pool does an admirable job in the role of Victor, his portrayal of the bellboy Poche comes off reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite, although it is still quite entertaining.
The action degraded to the level of a Scooby Doo hallway gag, but in a good way, as the characters run from room to room avoiding or searching for one another. The gem of the second act was the performance of Morgan Von Sydow as Baptiste. His timing was spot on playing an elderly man employed at the Frisky Puss as a decoy for jealous husbands.
The third-and-final act brings the audience full circle, and finally lets them off the hook, by giving full resolution to the story. The identities get resolved and the plot twists are wrapped up nicely. The audience was left with nothing more than the pleasure of going for the ride. And what a fun ride it was.