Noises Off

by Michael Frayn

Noises Off had 3 performances about 25 years ago (between the 25th of November 1999 and the 27th of November 1999) at The Magna Carta Theatre

The play is a farce, in fact a farce within a farce, taking the cliches of the genre and shaking them inventively through a series of kaleidescope patterns. The first act is a pastiche of traditional farce, the second a contemporary variant on the formula and the third a total undermining of it!

The play opens with a touring company dress-rehearsing Nothing On, a conventional farce. Mixing mockery and homage, Frayn heaps into the play-within-a-play a hilarious melee of stock characters and situations. Caricatures - cheery char, outraged wife and squeaky blonde - stampede in and out of doors. Voices rise and trousers fall ...

This is certainly not a deep play, although there is perhaps more of a message than one might think at first. How do we cope when our normally well ordered lives are completely overturned and the dark chaos behind the scenes spills ovber into our hearts and minds ? The prepared words vanish along with the planned responses and the performance breaks down leaving us ashamed and naked. However - just because this is not Brecht does not mean it is not difficult and the technical skill required on and behind (our) stage will be a very demanding test of concentration, dedication and, as ever, teamwork. With those in place, it should also be great fun to be involved in and extremely funny for our audience.