Weathervane Playhouse

June 16 – June 25, 2016

Directed by:  Tim Browning

Scenic Designer:  Amy Sue Hazel

Costume Designer:  Renee Bell

Lighting Designer:  Jennifer Sansfacon

 

 

A Flea in Her Ear is a bit of a farce, telling the story of a wife who suspects her husband of being unfaithful, and hatches a plan with her best friend to try and catch him.  Their plan involves trapping him at the Hotel Coq’dor, in a room with a hidden revolving bed.  The show features all manner of slamming doors, mistaken identities, and a look-alike for the husband.  Confusion and silliness abound as the show finds its conclusion.

 

My research for this show focused around highlighting the silly moments.  Music was selected that would ground the play in its French origins, but would also enhance the silly and romantic moments that were to come.  I looked for incidental effects that would be recognizable within the world of the play, but would also be quite a bit silly.  Door buzzers and incidental sounds would punctuate this throughout the piece.

 

In particular, we spent a good bit of time discussing the revolving bed.  Each time it rotated, it would bring a new surprise, and we chose to approach it almost cartoon-like.  The idea was that a performer would hit a button, and the bed would revolve 180˚.  The ding when they hit the button would be bright and clear, punctuating the moment.  The bed would then revolve to the sound of a slide whistle, going up in some instances, down in others.  At the end of act 2, when the rotation continued out of control, the slide whistle went in all directions along with the repeated ringing bell.

 

With shows like this, sometimes the sound will punctuate just about every moment.  For this show, the sound was a lighter touch, enhancing the moments where it was really needed, but otherwise staying out of the way of the hilarious dialogue and physical comedy.