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A pleasantly enjoyable French farce.

Monday Apr 03, 2006.     By Ned Stevens

Theater Feed

Farce is tricky business to pull off successfully. On the surface it might seem easier than a tortured Sam Shepard drama; after all, in farce the actors generally don't have to explore the darkest reaches of their souls to develop their character. Instead, they exist to react to bizarre circumstances and make the audience laugh. But to do farce well, all of the actors have to be unified in style, and the audience's attention has to be very precisely focused by the director (in this case, Gary Griffin of "The Color Purple" renown) at all times.

For most of the new David Ives adaptation of Feydeau's classic play "A Flea in Her Ear," now playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, all of the above requirements are met.

The play opens (and closes) in the sterile and proper-looking drawing room of a respectable French family, but not all is as it seems. The lady of the house (Linda Hart) has just had the suspenders of her husband (Rick Hall) returned to her from a house of ill-repute. Suspecting infidelity, she cooks up a plot with the help of her friend (Ora Jones) to test her man.

Everything comes falling apart when unexpected person after unexpected person arrives at the Hotel Frisky Puss. Throw in everything from a relative with a severe speech impediment (Rick Boynton, making that role funnier than it has any right to be) to a jealous Spaniard (Anthony Crivello in a pitch-perfect performance) and we have the makings of some great farce on our hands.

Unfortunately, the second act of the play (while amusing) isn't nearly as funny as it could be; the audience's attention isn't focused as precisely as it needs to be, in part due to Daniel Ostling's enormous Hotel Frisky Puss set design. While eye-popping and incredibly ornate, in the end the construction seems to be doing the play a disservice; instead of looking exactly where the director wants them to, the audience is all too often tempted to let their eyes roam across the entire three-story structure. This is not to say that "A Flea in Her Ear" isn't an enjoyable production; by all means go see it. It's simply doesn't always pop as much as one might wish.

Playing at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; 800 E. Grand Ave.; (312) 595-5600; $48-$65. Playing through April 23; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (April 2-April 18 only); 1 p.m .& 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 7:30 p.m. Thurdsay; 8 p.m. Friday; 4 p.m. & 8:30 p.m Saturday; 3 p.m. (& 7 p.m. April 23).