MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College Department of Theatre and Dance will present “One Flea Spare” directed by Cláudio Medeiros, Nov. 21-23, in Wright Memorial Theatre.
The year is 1665. The setting is London, a city in the throes of the devastation caused by the bubonic plague. Mr. and Mrs. Snelgrave await the remaining three days of their 28-day quarantine. In the middle of the night two strangers enter what they believe is an empty home: a rough-spoken sailor and a mysteriously intuitive 12-year-old girl. From now on, imprisoned within the claustrophobic walls of their confinement, the Snelgraves and their guests must negotiate an intimacy that is as unexpected as it is dangerous. While outside the plague wreaks havoc, inside the central conflict is one of class and bodies. Who is master and who is servant when social barriers crumble? Which bodies are in danger? Who desires whom?
Naomi Wallace is an American playwright whose work has gone largely unproduced in her home country. In England, where she lives, productions of her plays have garnered a striking amount of critical attention. A year after its world premiere in London in 1995, “One Flea Spare” was shown in Louisville, Ky., at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. The following year it opened at the Public Theatre in New York City and won the OBIE award for best play. It also won the 1996 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Joseph Kesselring Prize, and the 1996 Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award. In 2009 the play was incorporated into the permanent répertoire of the French National Theatre, the Comédie Française. Wallace is only the second American playwright to enter the repertoire, where she joins Tennessee Williams.
The cast of “One Flea Spare” includes Will Koch ’21, Emily Ma ’21, Katie Mashall ’21, and James Peacock ’21. Gary Smith, a professional actor, director, and producer with extensive credits in New York and regional theater, now living in Bristol, rounds out the cast. Griffin Birney ’22 is the stage manager and Calvin Dupree ’23 is the assistant stage manager. Mark Evancho has designed the set and Daisy Long, a New York City-based artist, will light the show. Mira Veikley is the costume designer. Professor Emeritus Peter Hamlin contributes an evocative original score.
“It’s been great fun to work on ‘One Flea Spare’ with Cláudio and the Middlebury students,” Smith wrote in a comment about performing in this production. “It is a very challenging and surprisingly relevant play for any company to undertake and I find everyone up to the task. While not all of the students in the cast hope to pursue a professional theatrical career, their talent, commitment and discipline under the passionate and insightful direction of Cláudio is bringing this richly layered play to life. It is such fun to be working with talented and committed actors at the beginning I’d their theatrical journey and I’m very pleased to be a part of it all.”
“One Flea Spare” will be performed on Thursday, Nov. 21, Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Wright Memorial Theatre. The Friday evening performance will be followed by a Q&A with the director and company members.
Tickets are $15 for the general public; $12 for Middlebury College faculty, staff, alumni, emeriti, and other ID card holders; and $6 for Middlebury College students. For tickets or information, call (802) 443-MIDD (6433) or visit go.middlebury.edu/arts. Wright Memorial Theatre is located at 96 Chateau Road in Middlebury.