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Sunday, November 15, 2009
'Flea' seems to border on the profound and pretentious
By Barry Gaines
For the Journal
Naomi Wallace's 1995 play "One Flea Spare" is a strange examination of class struggle and sexual repression set during England's "Great Plague" of 1665. Sort of Marx meets Freud at the Centers for Disease Control.
The play is being staged at the Filling Station by RyBan Productions, under the direction of founder Ryan Jason Cook. The production features generally impressive acting, but does not overcome the problems inherent in the script.
Wealthy and powerful William Snelgrave lives with his wife, Darcy, in an imposing home in London. When their servants die of bubonic plague, the couple is quarantined. They are joined by Bunce, a sailor fleeing the navy, and Morse, a 12-year-old claiming to be a neighbor's daughter. Patrolling outside, Kabe prevents anyone from leaving the Snelgrave residence.
The play's cryptic title is taken from John Donne's witty seduction poem "The Flea," where the narrator urges his partner not to kill a flea that has sucked blood from both of them: "O stay, three lives in one flea spare, / Where we almost, yea, more than married are."
As we now know, fleas spread the plague, and the character Morse is once referred to as "flea." The tenuous connection between the play and its title is typical of the sometimes strained manner that ideas are imported.
Director Cook, also serving as scenic designer, provides an attractive set with a door at one end, a large bay window at the other and a floor of wide wooden planks. Miguel Martinez and Julie Heidtman are responsible for the costumes.
Morse turns out to be a servant's daughter who appropriated her dying mistress' clothing. (Her lower-class speech should have quickly given her away.) In the same way, Bunce dresses first in his master's hose and shoes, and then in his entire outfit.
We find that Mrs. Snelgrave was horribly disfigured by a fire when she was 17, and her husband hasn't had sex with her since. Bunce awakens tentative desire in this damaged woman, while also conjuring homosexual desire in Mr. Snelgrave.
The play is full of themes and images, but too often these seem superimposed on the characters. We don't become involved with these people because we don't really know them.
This is not the actors' fault. Shangreaux Lagrave is fine as Kabe, the playwright's mouthpiece. While I think he could modulate the volume of his delivery, John Wylie handles William effectively. As Darcy, Barbara Geary's voice is always compelling and her acting strong. She deserves some makeup resembling scars on her arms and hands to justify her gloves.
Joseph West portrays Bunce with calm and care. As Morse, Tabatha Shaun brings welcome surprises. She conveys her surrealistic character with innocent élan.
Is "One Flea Spare" profound or pretentious? See for yourself.
If you go
WHAT: "One Flea Spare" by Naomi Wallace
WHERE: The Filling Station, 1024 Fourth St. SW
WHEN: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Nov. 22
HOW MUCH: General public $16; students and seniors $12.
CONTACT: Call 575-791-1233 for reservations.
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