A Flea in Her Ear

by Georges Feydeau, Stephen Mulrine (Introduction)

Overview

The wife of an insurance magnate, suspicious that her husband is having an affair, sends him a lascvicious invitation from an "anonymous" admirer, just to see if he’ll show. The action of A Flea in Her Ear, one of the best-known French farces, takes us to the sleazy Lanterne Rouge Hotel with a fine crop of mocking, mistaking, insulting, groping, kicking and mimicing, all in a spanking new translation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781854594402
Publisher:	Theatre Communications Group
Publication date:	09/01/2000
Series:	Nick Hern Books Drama Classics Series
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 6.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

George Feydeau (1862-1921) was a French dramatist remembered for his farces, mostly on the traditional themes of adultery, mistaken identity, and misunderstanding. He is widely regarded as a master of plot and dialogue. The best known of his nearly forty plays are perhaps L'Hôtel du libre échange, La Dame de chez Maxim, and Puce à l'oreille.

Editorial Reviews

...completely invigorating, stylistically polished and robustly buoyant...compelled the audience to roar in laughter until tears rolled down many cheeks.

Chicago Defender

...brilliantly transported to the mid-1960s by Frank Galati...

Chicago Daily Herald

Absolutely hysterical.

WXRT-FM Radio

"Where does one begin in praising Feydeau? Perhaps with the thrift and beauty of his plotting... The result is a heartlessly funny evening of whirlwind insanity; and my new year wish is that we return to a genre that Eric Bentley once dubbed "the quintessence of theatre."—Michael Billington, Guardian

"There's plenty here to suggest similarities between Feydeau and Basil Fawlty's demented world... and John Mortimer's translation still seems fresh after more than 40 years..."—Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard

"Blissfully funny...Beautifully mounting delirium of split-second synchronicities, ridiculous revolving beds, and myriad misunderstandings, the hilarity heightened by the wit"—Paul Taylor, The Independent

"The very essence of belle-époque frivolity, but it does have an incredible level of structural organisation, which that Feydeau, although a famously idle fellow, must have had the mind of a first-class mathematician..."
—Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times

"According to the late John Mortimer, 'farce is tragedy played at a thousand revolutions a minute'. And he should know, having done the sparkling translation for Richard Eyre's delightful revival of Feydeau's best-known farce."—Georgina Brown, The Mail on Sunday




"Where does one begin in praising Feydeau? Perhaps with the thrift and beauty of his plotting... The result is a heartlessly funny evening of whirlwind insanity; and my new year wish is that we return to a genre that Eric Bentley once dubbed "the quintessence of theatre."—Michael Billington, Guardian

"There's plenty here to suggest similarities between Feydeau and Basil Fawlty's demented world... and John Mortimer's translation still seems fresh after more than 40 years..."—Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard

"Blissfully funny...Beautifully mounting delirium of split-second synchronicities, ridiculous revolving beds, and myriad misunderstandings, the hilarity heightened by the wit"—Paul Taylor, The Independent

"The very essence of belle-époque frivolity, but it does have an incredible level of structural organisation, which that Feydeau, although a famously idle fellow, must have had the mind of a first-class mathematician..."
—Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times

"According to the late John Mortimer, 'farce is tragedy played at a thousand revolutions a minute'. And he should know, having done the sparkling translation for Richard Eyre's delightful revival of Feydeau's best-known farce."—Georgina Brown, The Mail on Sunday

From the Publisher