James Fritz’s ‘The Flea’ is a creative, humorous masterpiece
The Flea, created by James Fritz, is a hilarious, genius satirical tale of the Cleveland Street Scandal in 1889. Throughout the parody performance, the show explored how multiple people attempted to sweep this scandal under the rug to save themselves and their reputations. Ultimately, The Flea tells the tale of how the higher-class people involved, like Lord Arthur Somerset, managed to get away scot-free. While the working-class victims were punished.
The set designed by Naomi Kuyck-Cohen was an enchanted spectacle. With an Alice and Wonderland vibe to the design was joyous through the tiny chairs, the chairs of different levels screwed to the walls and even using a filing cabinet as stairs to a chair. The imagination and creativity behind this were incredible to witness. In addition, the costuming by Lambdog1066 and supervised by Emily Noble was a queer sensation, mixing 80s punk inspired by Vivienne Westwood, to big sleeves, to mixtures of extra buttons and glitter.
The multi-rolling of the actors was fantastic with the change of posture and stance. It was shocking during the curtain call for it to be revealed, there were only five actors in the play. However, there were times when the changes weren’t so seamless. Stefan Race had the difficult task of playing Lord Arthur Somerset and Henry Newlove (he did an incredible job
with both characters). Race often had very quick changes and at one point had to go on stage with his trousers unzipped. The quick changes stole the magic of the play at times. But, with this being said the acting from every actor was truly magnificent.
The physicality brought within the show was a delight (created by Sung Im Her the movement director). The marching of all the actors when introducing the characters (and the videography this element brought- created by Gino Ricardo Green) was glorious and majestic. Throughout the entirety of the play, these elements were tremendous, particularly the videography used when Queen Victoria was seeing her future
However, within the queer storyline, there is a feeling that there could have been more of a community feel with every queer man in the story. The rich men involved in this scandal were painted as villains but they were also victims of the times they lived in, with homosexuality being illegal. It could be said that this fact was overlooked, within the story.
Overall, The Flea is a glorious, beautiful tale constructed to marvel in creativity and magic. Everyone should watch this! The Flea is on at the Yard Theatre till 30th November.