'One Flea Spare' at Fusion, a plague play for our times

Ordinary life is suspended by the outbreak of a deadly disease. Grief and fear coexist with stir-crazy boredom as authorities impose extended lockdowns. Sound familiar? Naomi Wallace’s “One Flea Spare” takes place in 17th century London during an outbreak of the bubonic plague, but everyone who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic can relate.

Fusion Theatre Company’s new production of the play opened on Nov. 13 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 30, in Albuquerque and Taos, with Fusion co-founder Laurie Thomas directing.

“One Flea Spare” opens as a wealthy family, the Snelgraves, are preparing to end their 28-day mandatory quarantine. When two mysterious strangers invade their home, the clock resets, and the couple must endure another 28-day quarantine, this time with two complete strangers.

“I think the playwright originally wanted to explore class differences and oppression through the lens of class and through the lens of gender. She makes no bones of writing it from a feminist perspective, and she wanted to find a way to set characters into a location or an event that would force them to start breaking down the societal structures that we impose on one another,” Thomas said. “So, she looked to this time in history, the plague of 1665. Everything is deteriorating, everything is being questioned, everything is breaking down, everything is being shattered, whether it be for the good or the bad.”

When Wallace wrote the play in 1995, she had no way of knowing that a worldwide pandemic would disrupt society in similar ways just 25 years later.

“If you were an audience that saw this play prior to the pandemic, you might roll your eyes a little bit at the response of the characters, like, ‘Oh, my God, they had no understanding of science. They were so superstitious,’” Thomas said. “Well, we didn’t have any science at the beginning of it, either. And we saw all kinds of interesting, you know, ‘theories’ as to what was going on.”

The play glides seamlessly between comedy and tragedy.

“It goes through the gamut of human experience,” Thomas said. “So, everything from the goofiest ways that they try to entertain themselves and pass the time, to the most tragic challenges that this would bring, to the point where you can’t be with the people who are passing away.”

Thomas’ own parents died during the pandemic, and she was not able to be by their side in their final hours.

“I wasn’t able to be with them, and it was horrible. I still don’t think we know how to talk about this,” she said.

Working on the play helped her heal.

“It’s absolutely been therapeutic,” Thomas said. “Going through the rehearsal process brings a lot of stuff up. But also, she (Wallace) takes you through this journey quite eloquently and quite poetically. With that way into it, you’re able to experience these feelings you had but within a different time and place. They still reverberate in you, and you feel great empathy for the characters, going on that journey with them. And it’s quite healing, ultimately.”

Thomas worked closely with scenic designer Tucker Topel to translate the poetic qualities of Wallace’s imagery-heavy script into an evocative but restrained visual language.

“We got fascinated with the prints of (18th century English artist and poet) William Blake, and his color palette,” Thomas said, “and we felt that even though the script indicates you might be in different rooms, like a kitchen or a parlor or something, we wanted not to change rooms. We wanted that one monotonous room to represent the lockdown.

“Then, with a limited color palette, (we wanted to show) that the outside world, the dirt of the world, is encroaching on the room itself. The room is almost skeletal, yet it creates this claustrophobic feel,” Thomas said. “I think it’s fabulous. Just that is worth the price of admission.”

Thomas also praised the actors for making “One Flea Spare” feel both authentic and relatable.

“Ultimately, they’re really good storytellers, and that’s what you need in a language-driven play,” Thomas said. “And though it’s not all contemporary language, it’s very, very accessible.”

In our post-pandemic world, the characters are more relatable than ever.

“You don’t feel like these are people from hundreds of years ago,” she said. “You think, ‘Oh my God, I’ve felt that.’”