PLAY ANALYSIS DOCUMENT
Schwartz
TITLE: One Flea Spare
DATE: 1997
PLOT: The wealthy Snelgraves
are surprised when Bunce and
Morse show up uninvited to their
home during a plague. Locked
inside by the corrupt guard Kabe,
the four must live with each other
in quarantine for 28 days. After
pushing the others too hard, Mr.
Snelgrave is tied to a chair and dies
soon after his wife sleeps with
Bunce. She contracts the plague
commits suicide while Bunce
escapes and Morse is taken to
prison (presumably for the
Snelgraves’ murders).
KEY LIGHTING
ELEMENTS: While there
aren’t many specially lit
elements during this play, the
show opens with Morse in a
dimly lit prison. While this adds
a certain mystique before she
is fully revealed to the
audience, it also serves to
visually distinguish two
different time periods: The
Snelgraves’ house at first, and
the prison (chronologically)
afterwards.
KEY COSTUME
ELEMENTS:
Costumes are often used as
concealment in this play, and
as they get stripped away, their
respective character shows
more and more of their true
colors.
LANGUAGE:
Slightly heightened
conversational English. Very
1665.
MESSAGE: What you own has no relevance to how good a person you are.
YOUR NAME: E.J.
PLAYWRIGHT: Naomi Wallace
MIS-EN-SCENE: 1665. The stage is comprised of three 20 WORD SUMMARY:A
sets: the Snelgraves’ house of affluence, an isolating cell, group of diverse people attempt
and the street just below the house. Respectively, these (and fail) to live with one another
represent three distinct worlds: That of the haves, that of during a plague, leading to symbolic
struggles.
the have-nots, and a median between these two extremes.
NOTES: CONFLICT: The conflict is
- “Let our good servant Bunce see what’s touched largely based in outside forces’
him in the dark” (Scene 8) questioning (and ultimately
- Why does Kabe get enjoyment from watching the Darcy’s realization and action)
Snelgraves suffer – what was his past that causes the Snelgraves’ marriage as the
him to dislike the rich so much? How did Snelgrave plague forces them all to stay
die so quickly? inside together. Tones of
- Tension is built by characters’ juxtapositions with classism underscore many of
one another, which gives viewers a more fully Snelgrave’s interactions, which
fleshed out idea of said characters’ ticks. ultimately drives his
- I find Mr. Snelgrave’s psychological abuse and housemates to reject him.
pressure in Scene 8 to be a fascinating character KEY ELEMENTS BEYOND
trait, as it not only shows his own desire for control
SPOKEN LANGUAGE:
but also allows the audience to gauge different While much of the play is
characters’ reactions to such abuse. I plan to steal relatively sedentary, the
this at some point. characters do utilize space when
CHARACTERS: symbolically necessary. For
[William] Snelgrave, a wealthy, old, devoutly Christian man. instance, Bunce backs Snelgrave
up into his chair by pushing him
Darcy [Snelgrave], his wife. She was burnt in a stable fire, with his own cane across the
and has lost feeling in much of her body. stage, physically showing the
shift in power dynamic. Earlier
Bunce, a young sailor who has spent most of his life at sea. than this, when the two men try
Takes great interest in Darcy, who reciprocates. on each other’s shoes, Bunce
walks around in Snelgrave’s
Morse, a 12-year-old daughter of a servant woman who whereas the converse is not
pretends to be the child of a dead rich man. Mischievous true. This shows a level of
and imprisoned, wise beyond her years. empathy, bringing literal
meaning to the common adage
“walk around in somebody
else’s shoes.”
STRUCTURE: KEY PROP ELEMENTS:
Two acts, comprised mostly of two person interactions or Snelgrave’s fine leather shoes:
full ensemble scenes. They first represent the rich in a
class divide between their
wealthy owner and the servile
Bunce. Ultimately, however,
they are worthless as Kabe
doesn’t accept them as payment
for freedom.
IMAGERY: SOUND: N/A
Description of the burning stable, various characters’
injuries which the audience is not allowed to see, the
plague’s “tokens”/spots, armed guards down the street.