Reader Reviews
A Flea in Her Ear (Old Vic Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I was so dissappointed with this play last night.The amazing set was the highlight of the evening.I can't believe I saw the same play as the critics that gave it 4 stars.I love farce but this play was just not funny and some of the actors were miscast.the seat prices at the Old Vic are expensive and I thought this production gave very poor value, other than the performance of Tom Hollander.How sad the wonderful Old Vic presenting such poor material. - Rob | 30 Jan 11 |
| Wow. I went to see this on Monday night and I couldn't stop laughing. Farce is an art form in its own right, and I think this cast have really pulled it off. I must confess that I was hoping to see Mr Hollander, but I thought his replacement was brilliant. Greg Baldock is certainly someone I would like to see more of in the future. He didn't just act as a fill-in, he really led the whole performance from his entrance. Loved every minute of it. The Old Vic never disappoints! - Rachel Dawes | 21 Jan 11 |
| Agree with Carolanne.My wife and I still recall the mid 60s NT cast .E mailed The Old Vic saying I thought it not good enough to simply announce "Mr Hollander" will be replaced by...etc" and the wall notices are just about visible behind the ushers.No response. We paid full price for 2 stalls and when I think how much our day out cost from the Midlands,it wasn't worth it. It was not just the understudy who put in a poor performance.Overall one of the most disappointing shows in a long time.John Marquez made me laugh...the others were mostly desperate. - Maurice Crutchlow | 18 Jan 11 |
| Just not up to the price of the tickets or the reviews (sometimes wonder if press night is completely different show when everyone tries really hard and runs out of steam as the show goes on). Also Tom Hollander is still off and the understudy was not great, aren't they supposed to be good enough to play the part? This perhaps has thrown what is a quality cast off? I do think the theatre should notify people because let's be honest Mr H is on all the posters and frankly why anyone would pay £50 plus for a ticket. A really disappointing evening, I wouldn't bother. - Carolanne | 15 Jan 11 |
| Despite arriving late at the Old Vic because of the bad weather (I saw this in December) "Flea" was excellent, I loved it. The sets are impressive, the Hotel Coq d’Or set is really lavish, with a spectacular golden statue. The whole cast are superb, but Tom Hollander is the real star - he’s hilarious with some of his comments directed at the audience. His quick changes are amazing. I've booked to see it again at the beginning of March so I'll be able to get to see the beginning of the play! - Sue | 13 Jan 11 |
| Enjoyed it a lot. even without Tom Hollander who was off sick! - Dumonteil-Lagreze | 13 Jan 11 |
| All the ingredients are in place for what should be a classic farce: a cleverly constructed plot, mistaken identities and infidelities and a large cast performing at high pace and high volume with the requisite sprinkling of "hilarious" foreign accents. So the Old Vic should have been quaking with laughter - except that it wasn't. Maybe Richard Eyre's production was a bit too mechanical and the over-acting a bit too extreme, or maybe farce is just going out of fashion. Due to indisposition Tim McMullan's fruity tones were missed and Tom Hollander was similarly afflicted, so praise is due to Greg Baldock for taking on the daunting challenge of the dual roles with no perceptible slips. - David Baxter | 12 Jan 11 |
| Oh what a disappointment! The casting director needs a wrap on the knuckles as does the director. The whole tempo of the performance did not work - it was too frantic. The young women were completely unsuited to their parts - bad diction and they seemed uncomfortable with their accents. Also they gabbled. It takes a fine actor to enunciate clearly yet keep up the pace of high comedy. Wonderful sets though - full marks to that department, costume too. Thought Freddie Fox was brilliant and Hollander`s understudy did extremely well. Wish we could have had more of a laugh. - Kate D | 12 Jan 11 |
| I AM SORRY MAYBE IT'S JUST ME BUT THIS WAS JUST A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. MY WIFE AND I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER LONG AND NOT IN THE LEAST BIT AMUSING. SO MUCH SO THAT WE LEFT DURING THE INTERVAL. IT IS LOUD AND FRANETIC BUT MAYBE THAT THE POINT, IF IT WAS THEN I WAS NOT GETTING IT. TERRIBLE !!!!!!! - PHIL TURNER | 30 Dec 10 |
| I was so looking forward to this hoping for a really funny farce to end off the Christmas festivities sadly what I got was definitely a turkey. Yes there are some laughs along the way but never do we get to the point of all the audience laughing together. I think it is probably a very good if dated farce but the fault rests with Richard Eyre the director who requires his cast to play OTT from the first moment they speak thus no momentum is built up and the lunacy of the plot fails to build and take off. Farce works best when normal people due to the plot behave in frenetic and bizarre ways - a normal person in a mad situation, here everyone is unhinged hence there plight in the complicated plot fails to generate little more than a few half hearted chuckles. Certainly nobody was rolling in the aisles with laughter. The couple next to us did not return after the interval which probably was a wise decision on reflection - Chris Hill | 29 Dec 10 |
| Don't find people with cleft palates or foreigners intrinsically funny.Love some farces like See How They Run and Charlie's Aunt ( both performed recently at Manchester).This was just so very bad. - peggyb | 15 Dec 10 |
| Very disappointing. I wonder how a theater like Old Vic could allow for such a low quality production on its stage. Not funny and the acing quite poor. A waste of time and money - Disappointed viewer | 15 Dec 10 |
| I thought it was very good and entertaining and the sets brilliant. Farce is farce so you expect everyone to be a bit OTT and over act--that's farce. I thought Tom Hollander was very good and I also liked the part of John Marquez as the very OTT+++Accented Spaniard--good fun. A good and entertaining night out. - Joe Spiteri | 15 Dec 10 |
| Farce requires actors of exceptional comedic talent and that would apply in particular to the plays of Georges Feydeau. Unfortunately, last night's line up of talent didn't meet that critical requirement, except that is for the wonderful John Marquez and to a slightly lesser degree Freddie Fox. Jonathan Cake is hopelessly miscast. What must have been going through Richard Eyre's mind last night as he watched this dull rendition, of one of the great French farces, limp across the Old Vic stage? It needs comedic actors of the caliber of Nicholas la Provost to pull it off. If you really want to see farce at its best then you have to go to the Shaw Festival in Canada where they have honed the art to perfection. The only good thing I can say about this production is the set is rather wonderful. - rds | 15 Dec 10 |
| Farce requires actors of exceptional comedic talent and that would apply in particular to Georges Feydeau. Unfortunately last nights line up of talent didn't meet that critical requirement, except that is for the wonderful John Marquez and to a slightly lesser degree Freddie Fox. Jonathan Cake was hopelessly miscast. What must have been going through Richard Eyre's mind last night as he watched this dull rendition, of one of the great French farces, limp across the Old Vic stage? It needs the likes of actors such as Nicholas Provost to pull it off. If you really want to see farce performed to perfection, and in English, then check out The Shaw Festival of Canada - they have amassed such a pool of talented actors and directors who are, when called upon, able to perform farce to perfection. Oh and I almost forgot - the sets were excellent. - rds | 15 Dec 10 |
| Irritating and dull. The odd line sparkles but every character seems so insular and glib. Very disappointing. - addicted to theatre | 20 Apr 10 |
