A Flea in her Ear

By Georges Feydeau and John Mortimer

Eccentric and hillarious, Georges Feydeau’s much loved comedy mixes madness, mayhem, fun and frivolity. When the beautiful wife of Victor Chandebise suspects of having an affair, she enlists the help of her dearest friend to entrap him. Their plan to entice him to a rendezvous at the Hotel Coq D'or spectacularly misfires and chaos ensues. Set in the decadent surroundings of Belle Époque Paris, Feydeau's quintessential farce promises to be an exhilerating even of mistaken identities and comic disaster.

• Language: English
• Publisher: OBERON BOOKS Ltd
• Release date: Dec 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9781849438551

Reviews for A Flea in her Ear

[joririchardson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This little play really surprised me! I assumed from the odd title and bland cover that it was most likely a cheesy Western.However, once I began reading it, I couldn't put it down!The characters are distinctive and memorable - my favorites being a man with a speech impediment, a crazed jealous Spaniard, and an arrogant, flirtatious husband.Witty dialogue, fast paced scenes of confusion and uproar, and a plot full of trickery, impersonations, mistaken identity, and investigations make this book unforgettable.In "A Flea in Her Ear," a wife suspects her husband of being unfaithful, so she writes him a supposed love letter from another woman, to see what he does.Typical of French literature, this book is endlessly clever and full of sharp humor, as well as plenty of suggestive laughs (that often do more than just suggest).This play is one of my favorites! If you like "Don Juan," Shakespeare's comedies, or Oscar Wilde, you'll love this play.I'll definitely be reading more of Georges Feydeau!

[gbill_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A wife suspects her husband of adultery when his appetite for her in bed abruptly diminishes, so she contrives with her friend to lure him to a hotel known for illicit meetings (the Hotel Coq d’Or, lol) to catch him in the act. Adding to the sex farce are two other couples and a family friend, some of whom have big libidos and play around. After a strong first act filled with double entendres and a fair degree of sexual freedom for 1907, the play degenerates into madcap chaos at the hotel. Feydeau makes use of a servant character who looks identical to the husband, as well as a bed in the hotel which rotates in from another room at the push of a button to add to the mayhem, and soon people are running all over the place confused about who’s cheating with whom. If some of that sounds familiar and you’re in Ingmar Bergman fan (e.g. the bed in ‘Smiles of a Summer Night’), well, Bergman was a love of Feydeau and was almost certainly influenced by him. It’s an amusing little read, but not much more.