Blankenau: What happens when we share a bed with humor
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
The word “farce” spoken aloud closely resembles a term for the common bodily function also known as breaking wind. To some, that similarity serves as definition. I must confess that I was once one of those who regarded farce as a ridiculous waste of time, stuffed with low humor calculated to appeal to the undiscerning (which for me at that time included all males).
Thankfully, I have matured. Perhaps that is the wrong expression, but unfortunately “de-matured” is not in the dictionary.
At any rate, farce isn’t all potty humor and slapstick (though there’s plenty of that). Great farce, composed of ludicrously improbable plots based on marriage, misunderstanding and mistaken identity, still manages to relate to our everyday lives. Few examples of the genre surpass Georges Feydeau’s “A Flea in Her Ear,” the University Theater’s production of which opens Oct. 3 at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
“French farce is about the timing and the breakneck speed the actors must engage in,” said Jack Wright, the play’s director and a professor of theater and film. “A Flea in Her Ear,” set in turn-of-the-century Paris, certainly sets a frenetic pace.
In the show, Raymonde Chandebise is convinced of her husband Victor’s infidelity after he turns into what her friend Lucienne likens to “a Spanish river” that dries up in the summer. Suspecting the river of seeking another bed, Raymonde cooks up a plot to catch Victor by sending him a letter from an imaginary secret admirer making an assignation at the Frisky Puss Hotel. Sound complicated? Just wait.
Lucienne’s husband, a Spaniard with a somewhat shaky command of the language, in turn suspects his wife of being the secret admirer. Victor’s nephew further complicates the situation by renting a room at the Frisky Puss himself, using only his last name – Chandebise. His speech impediment, an inability to pronounce consonants, doesn’t help either. Add an amorous cook, Raymonde’s would-be lover, an aggressive Englishman and Victor’s double (to name a few) and you have the ingredients for mayhem.
“Feydeau’s farce has been called ‘the theater of the 100 doors,” Wright said, and the characters live up to the nickname. They pop in and out of the Frisky Puss’ rooms like jack-in-the-boxes. By Wright’s count, the actors move in and out of doors 274 times.
Despite of the hilarious frenzy, “A Flea in Her Ear,” like all good farce, has its foundation in the irony of life.
“Comedy for me comes, just like in our own lives, when the characters have to fight to remain cool and collected while the world around them becomes increasingly ridiculous and absurd,” said Chandra Hopkins, who plays Raymonde, in an e-mail.
In the end, farce celebrates the bed that humanity and humor must share.
Blankenau is a Lincoln, Neb., sophomore in journalism.
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