Noises Off

NOISES OFF

Auditions: Sunday 29th and Monday 30th June. The season for the show will be from Sept 10th onwards for two weeks.

For anyone who does not know this popular comedy by Michael Frayn, Noises Off is a blisteringly funny comedy dealing with a second rate professional tour of a third rate English sex farce - Nothing On. The first act shows us the company struggling with a midnight dress rehearsal of a sadly unprepared show. Tiredness, lack of rehearsal and a set with doors that either refuse to open or won’t stay closed, leads to frayed tempers and bitchy sarcasm. Coupled with secret cast romances, a director who is bedding two of the company and a geriatric alcoholic actor playing the burglar we see them stumble through a play in which “four plates of sardines come on in act one alone“.

By act two (of the real play) we are six weeks into the tour and in a totally brilliant comic idea, the whole set is turned around and we see a performance of Nothing On from backstage! By now cast relations have sunk to an all time low and petty squabbles and sexual tension abound. Matters are not helped when the actor / lover of the leading lady fears she will leave him for another cast member. He gets hold of a handy fire axe...but of course the show must go on...

In act three we see Nothing On performed for the third time. A performance in which the cast in-fighting spills over onto the stage and threatens to drag the play slowly and surely into total anarchy.

Noises Off is both wonderfully funny and a joy to watch. As actors, most of you get the chance to play not only your character, but also whoever they play in Nothing On. A guide is given below, remember ages given are playing ages and are fairly approximate:



Dotty (50Â’s) Briefly starred as Mrs Hackett the lovable old lollipop lady. in fourth rate sit-com On the Zebras, now is putting up all the money for the tour. Can hardly ever say a line the same way twice. Plays Mrs Clackett, the lovable old cleaning lady.

LLoyd As director he tries to bring order to chaos with a mix of waspishness, petulance and heavy sarcasm.

Garry (20Â’s) Young, dedicated and horribly intense, he constantly tries in vain to keep the play making sense. He is dating Dotty, and plays Roger, the lusty young estate agent.

Brooke (20Â’s) Suffers from a total inability to depart from the script, even as the set falls down around her. Vapid and shallow she drives Gary to distraction. Plays Vicky, the underwear-clad girlfriend to Roger.

Poppy (20Â’s) Oh so eager and enthusiastic, Daddy probably bought her way into being a stage manager. Having a serious fling with LLoyd.

Freddie (30/40Â’s) Comes of an old acting family. His only problem is his inability to deal with stage business. And lines. And moves. And doors...and his constant nosebleeds... Plays Philip, the wealthy tax exile.

Belinda (30’s) Every company has its “Mum” figure, and Belinda is kind and caring, a good listener. Except she does love a bit of gossip.... Plays Flavia, Philip’s sophisticated wife.

Tim. (20/30Â’s) Company manager. Overworked and heavily stressed. A man who can make a crisis out of a drama...

Selsdon (70/80Â’s) Acted with dozens of the knights of the theatre. He has a fund of stories and is getting deaf enough to constantly think he is being asked to tell them. A lovely old man of the theatre...as long as you keep him away from the bar...plays the charming cameo of the burglar. ItÂ’s not meant to be a cameo, itÂ’s just that he will keep missing his entrance....


Auditions will be held on Sunday 29th June ( 12-4) and Monday 30th June ( 7 - 10) and callbacks will be the following Sunday.

Please prepare a modern comic speech.

If you would like to speak to the director before the audition, please feel free to call Steve on 94594313

If you would like to book an audition time, please call Dean on 0419949546 ( after 23rd June please!)