One Flea Spare (2004)

Susan Matus and Michael Laurino in a haunting image from Naomi Wallace's
One Flea Spare in Sight Unseen's critically acclaimed production.

Sight Unseen entered 2004 with aspirations of raising the bar once more and taking on previously published work by playwrights whose risk-taking work is rarely seen in Los Angeles.  One Flea Spare, the critically acclaimed drama by Naomi Wallace, turned out to be the perfect start to an important year for the company, a year that brought new many new exciting opportunities and collaborators. 

The story:  In 1665 London, a city laid to waste by the Black Plague, a wealthy couple is quarantined inside their house following the death of their servants. When two interlopers, a young girl and a ragged sailor, steal their way in and are discovered, the four must learn to share a common fear in a common space. The result is a riveting series of scenes in which the political structure that set these people apart are toppled by the needs of the body, the desire for intimacy.

The actors included company staples Clark Freeman (who also produced) and Mariah Sussman, and also featured newcomers Michael Laurino, Susan Matus, and Frank Smith.   The show featured set design by Ashley Rice, light design by Dan Jenkins, costume design by Valerie Bart, and a musical score by Andy Mitton.  One Flea Spare was directed by Sam Roberts, who had worked with Sight Unseen on the Missing Persons crew and would later become a company member in 2005.  Performed in the spring at the intimate "Other Space" at the Santa Monica Playhouse, Flea received rave reviews including a Critic's Pick in Backstage West.   Check out some more pictures and reviews below. 

Reviews:

LOS ANGELES TIMES:

"A large painting of prone bodies and funeral processions (designed by
Ashley Rice and rendered with the assistance of TJ Moore and Margo
Graxeda) dominates the back wall of the performing space. . .it's a grimly
apropos backdrop ...Freeman and Matus deliver luminous portrayals of lonely souls who
connect across class lines. ...Under Sam Roberts' direction, the show is moodily evocative."

LA WEEKLY  (RECOMMENDED):

"Naomi Wallace’s darkly poetical play is a challenging piece of work for a young company to tackle, but this simple production is most affecting. The title refers not only to the John Donne poem where the commingled blood of two lovers reside “married” in one hungry flea, but to the bubonic plague fleas that ravaged medieval Europe. Set in the 14th century at the height of the Black Death, the play is a character study of four people shut in together to await contagion or salvation, a No Exit purgatory that provides a microcosm of a ghastly piece of history. The home of the wealthy William (Michael Laurino) and Darcy Snelgrave (Susan Matus) has been boarded up by city officials with the homeowners inside, to remain so until they’re proven healthy. Bunce (Clark Freeman), a sailor tired of being press-ganged into service, and a mysterious young woman, Morse (Mariah Sussman), have taken refuge in the same house, and now they’re all trapped together, class differences and all. Freeman is startlingly good in a performance so convincing he seems plucked directly from antiquity. Matus brings both dignity and a simmering passion to her role. Director Sam Roberts elicits memorable acting from a splendid cast, ably abetted by Andy Mitton’s gracefully menacing score."   -Terry Morgan 

BACKSTAGE WEST   (CRITIC'S PICK):

"Director Sam Roberts' briskly paced and intimate production engrossingly
captures the era's squalor and edginess, and the shut-in environment is
depicted with admirable tension.  There's decay all over the place, and the
mood suggests that death is actually the characters' fifth roomie.

"The dialogue is sharp and often scathingly funny, delivered with assured
comic timing and emotional wisdom by the crack ensemble, which is
unusually effective at hinting at th chasm of class differences that yawns
between them.  Laurino is enthralling as the tightly wound, but quickly
unravelling William, who locks horns with Freeman's gruffly earthy Bunce.  
Also engaging are Matus' touchingly sad and rather lost Darcy and
Sussman's fiery tempered orphan girl.  Ashley Rice's run-down manor
basement set is unusualy evocative, and so are Valerie Bart's fine-gone-to-
shabby costumes."  

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