“It’s a well-known fact that infidelity makes the heart grow stronger”
Opting for farce for their festive fare this year, Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre is mounting a production of Once Bitten, by Alfred Hennequin & Alfred Delacour. Focusing on the trials and tribulations of would-be lawyer Fauvinard who, when he receives his first case, a woman who wants a divorce but no scandal, has to fit work into his busy schedule of philandering with his mistress. But things are rarely that easy as he has a household of eccentrics to deal with, a highly mistrusting mother-in-law, a narcoleptic uncle, a dippy maid plus his lawyer friend who also needs help in disguising his own infidelities. But when the mysterious Veauradieux case with its missing jewellery and inquisitive policemen threatens to envelop and expose everyone, including the mistresses. Oh, and there’s a dog…
As ever, there’s a multitude of misunderstandings, mistaken identities and mayhem as this group of people all try to achieve their own objectives as they all get further entangled in this mesh of surreal madness over a 24 hour period. Translated and adapted here by Reggie Oliver, it observes the three act format familiar to fans of Feydeau (indeed A Flea In Her Ear observes an almost identical set-up), setting up and starting the action in Fauvinard’s study in 1875 Paris and returning there for the climactic act, and placing the second act in the apartment of the one of the mistresses, an altogether more permissive venue where much of the outrageousness occurs. And it is all rather well done. Continue reading “Review: Once Bitten, Orange Tree Theatre”