Forbidden Love in ‘One Flea Spare’

When John Donne wrote, “in this flea our two bloods mingled be . . . three lives in one flea spare,” his topic was thwarted love.

Three decades after Donne’s death, the blood of London’s mighty mingled with the lowly in disease-ridden fleas. In her grimly insightful “One Flea Spare,” an Evidence Room production at the Ivy Substation, Naomi Wallace writes about the lack of love between the classes during the 1665 Great Plague.

When their servants die from the plague, the wealthy William (Tom Fitzpatrick) and Darcy (Pamela Gordon) Snelgrave are confined to their house. A sleazy, opportunistic guard (David Titzler) prevents their escape.

A young girl of questionable background (Ames Ingham) and a sailor (Christian Leffler) break into the house, immediately joining the Snelgraves as prisoners of the quarantine.

Wallace examines the breakdown of class restrictions and the repressed sexual curiosity about the forbidden other. She veers at times into turgid morass, but under the adept direction of Bart DeLorenzo, this production has an engrossing darkness elevated by ludicrously funny moments.

Fitzpatrick’s William is a grasping, conceited man. Gordon’s Darcy shows brief glimmers of humanity as her life is touched by Ingram’s childlike girl and Leffler’s sensible sailor. Titzler serves as a jester, absurd in his greed and superstitious sincerity.

Allison Achauer’s costumes contrast excessive ornamentation and spare utility, while Jason Adams’ set suggests a once-comfortable world slightly tilted off its axis. It’s a place where man is humbled by something as common as a flea.

*

* “One Flea Spare,” Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Oct. 18. $15. (310) 535-4996. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.