In the SAM building during theater rehearsal, Bakersfield College’s theater students are buzzing with excitement and energy as they wait to rehearse one of the biggest farces ever written.

“I’m known for doing a lot of the intense, political, social, satire type shows . very serious stuff and so I said I need a farce in my life,” said director Kim Chin.

“A Flea In Her Ear” is a play that has a huge misunderstanding of many love affairs.

“People think of French farces, this is number one,” said Chin.

Victor Chandebise is a rich businessman who has a misunderstanding with his cheating wife, Raymonde Chandebise, and consequently brings everyone around them into the mess.

Raymonde has an affair with Chandebise’s friend and business partner, Romain Tournel.

She has a naive meaning of love affair when Tournel thinks it means something less innocent.

Mandi Sopher, who plays Raymonde, said, “I definitely get the idea that she [Raymonde] wants to be in some kind of novel because she’s in love with the idea of having a lover.”

She said, “but to her that means to flirt and hold hands and cast longing glances across the room, she doesn’t understand that means you guys are sleeping together.”

Once Raymonde believes that Victor is having an affair, she no longer wants to have a lover and plans an anonymous rendezvous to catch her husband in the act of cheating.

Raymonde asks her friend, Lucienne Homenides De Histangua, to write the letter so Victor would not recognize the handwriting.

Lucienne’s husband, Don Carlos Homenides De Histangua, recognizes his wife’s handwriting as Victor parades around with the letter.

The last act of the show is when the madness happens, everyone is afraid of Homenides because he wants to kill Victor and Lucienne.

As characters are hiding from Homenides they are also struggling to communicate with Victor or Poche because they look exactly alike.

All characters think Victor is Poche and Poche is Victor.

Justin Pool plays both characters, Victor Chandebise and Poche.

“They both swap and they look like Poche is wearing Victor’s stuff and Victor is wearing Poche’s things, and that’s where it gets kinda tricky,” said Pool.

The play has many other love affairs and miscommunications among each other with witty jokes.

“It’s just insane, fun, wacky, hilarious cast, all over the place, with many plots,” said Pool.