The Flea – The Yard Theatre, London

Writer: James Fritz

Director: Jay Miller

The Flea delivers everything you would expect from a period drama, and a lot of absurd and stylish things that you wouldn’t. Bruntwood Prize and Critics Circle Theatre Award-winning writer James Fritz is self-admittedly working outside of his comfort zone in this piece, but his retelling of the Victorian Cleveland Street Scandal is a triumph. Sensitively conceived but hilarious, The Flea offers its audience a good laugh and a punch to the stomach.

Fritz’s pacy narrative embellishes the true story of a male brothel uncovered by a police investigation in 1889, weaving between stories of its upper-class patrons and the victimised Post Office employees who worked there. Moving between royalty, the aristocracy, and the family of Charlie Swinscow, ‘the telegraph boy who knelt before the Crown’, Fritz has his audience rapt as each becomes embroiled in a network of betrayals, cover-ups, exiles, and imprisonments. From the flea all the way to the top, The Flea performs a dissection of an entire era.

There is a lot that sticks in The Flea besides the history. The picture of underdogs crushed by the political machinations of the top brass feels intentionally modern, and the piece is underpinned by muddied ethics and anger at our own shortcomings in the face of danger. It is not all gloomy, though – there are catwalks, farces, and a joyous episode in which Queen Victoria gossips with the Lord. Norah Lopez Holden has delicious, queenly gravitas here, and is a sensitive guardian of the show’s heart in her second role as Charlie’s mother. Connor Finch and Séamus McLean Ross are fantastic in two very different double-acts. Scott Karim and Sonny Poon Tip complete the talented cast, who all ping-pong between roles with infectious energy.

Director Jay Miller also heads up The Yard Theatre, and it is clear that The Flea’s staging has come from a place of real understanding of, and creativity within, the space. Naomi Kuyck-Cohen’s set is full of ladders, screens, and unexpected props, all rich enough to enjoy but not to distract, and is supported by contemporary and beautifully melodramatic lighting design (Jonathan Chan). Kudos should go to the costume design by artist Lambdog1066, too, which feels incredibly elevated – Victorian by way of Vivienne Westwood. The Flea is a haute couture, historical fever dream, and a characterful addition to Fritz’s catalogue.

Runs until 18 November 2023