Noises Off
Fri, 11 Mar 2011, 10:07 amGordon the Optom2 posts in thread
Noises Off
Fri, 11 Mar 2011, 10:07 am‘Noises Off’ was written by Michael Frayn, born in 1933, the son of a deaf asbestos salesman in Mill Hill, North London.
Frayn read Moral Sciences at Cambridge, before becoming a reporter for ‘The Observer’ newspaper. He became a successful novelist, with one of his books being short-listed for the Booker Prize. His translations of Chekhov’s plays are considered to be the most accurate and sensitive.
He had a similar satirical writing style to his contemporary, TV presenter Clive James and so turned to writing farces. The idea for ‘Noises Off’ came in 1970, whilst from the wings Frayn was watching Lyn Redgrave performing in one of his first plays. He noted that the chaos behind the set was funnier than the play itself.
This play was first presented in 1982 with Patricia Routledge and Paul Eddington as the leads. It ran for 5 years, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy. ‘Noises Off’ was rewritten for the 2000 revival, which ran in London for a further two years.
This much-loved comedy is showing at Playlovers, Hackett Hall, Draper Street, Floreat until the 12th March. All shows at 8.00 pm.
As the lights come up, Grieg’s ‘Morning’ plays giving the audience a false feeling of peace and serenity, and then the chaos begins!
A troupe of run-of-the-mill English actors and their ambitious, but temperamental director (Dalton Paull) are putting together an inane sex comedy titled ‘Nothing On’, with semi-clad girls running around and trousers dropping. So the play that we, the audience, see is a blend of the play that the actors are putting on, blended with the true-life characters and their strange, complex personal lives.
Act One. We join the actors on their final chaotic dress rehearsal at the Grand Theatre in Weston-super-Mare. The show is still miles from being competent.
The housekeeper, played by the aptly named Dotty (Fiona Johnson) is looking after her employer’s house whilst he and the family are in Spain. The stuttering local estate agent, Garry (Jarred Scarpa) has been asked to let the house for the summer, and thinking the house is empty, calls around with his ‘secretary’, the dizzy strip club star (Adelle Munsie). No sooner have they arrived and are starting to settle in the bedroom, than the owner’s son, the squeamish Philip (Brett Hatfield) and his capable wife Flavia (Katie Ostrowski) return unexpectedly from Spain.
Meanwhile the poor stage manager, insanely jealous Poppy (Jessica Stenglein) and her overworked assistant, Kim (Erin Craddock) are trying to keep the show up and running. The elderly, alcoholic actor Selsdon(Steve Dillon) who is playing a burglar, staggers through his part from one hidden whisky bottle to the next.
Act Two. We are now watching a performance one month later, but this time it is seen from a different perspective, backstage. The deteriorating relationships amongst the cast are revealed. The performance is a disaster, before the curtain is thankfully lowered.
Act Three It is near the end of the ten-week run, the cast are burnt out and personal friction has continued to increase. Everyone is bored and anxious for the play’s Run just to finish. The actors attempt to cover up a series of mishaps, but only compound the problems by drawing further attention to the bungling performance. Props appear and disappear at the wrong time, but dim Brooke just plods on with her lines undaunted.
This play is exceptionally funny but extremely complex to put on. The set, designed by Jamie Davies – and no doubt built by an army of carpenters – has to be two storeys (front and back), capable of revolving through 180 degrees (twice) and strong enough to take a constant barrage of abuse. An exceptionally well-constructed set.
Most farces have a couple of doors opening and shutting; here we had eight doors and one window, and despite the average age of the actors being in the early twenties, director, Amanda Crewes, had them performing their entrances and exits with split second timing, and an interaction that was nothing short of amazing.
The actors, of course, had to be themselves whilst off stage, jealous and misunderstood then their cool stage characters when the curtain was up. So in effect each performer had at least two very different parts to play for the full three hours of the performance. Everyone had well defined personas, with their own quirks. The action was slick, immensely complex and didn’t once falter.
The whole piece demanded a massive amount of physical action from the cast, but a special mention must go to the acrobatics of Jarred, who at one point brought total silence to the audience convinced that he had killed himself.
With the set moving around, the lighting was bound to be a difficult challenge, but Fiona Reid did a fine job. It is only fair to give a credit to the real Stage Manager, Marie Corrigan and the stage crew, Robyn Shaw, Jill Kennedy, Brian Camp, Alex Hickman and Steve Dillon. I am sure there must be dozens more who have taken on this massive challenge and helped it to succeed.
I thought that the first act was a little too manic, as the three acts should build up to a climax, but this is being very petty with what was an outstanding production in every field. An immense test of the team’s stamina, but well worth the effort. Congratulations.
Grodon the Optom
‘Noises Off’ was written by Michael Frayn, born in 1933, the son of a deaf asbestos salesman in Mill Hill, North London.
Frayn read Moral Sciences at Cambridge, before becoming a reporter for ‘The Observer’ newspaper. He became a successful novelist, with one of his books being short-listed for the Booker Prize. His translations of Chekhov’s plays are considered to be the most accurate and sensitive.
He had a similar satirical writing style to his contemporary, TV presenter Clive James and so turned to writing farces. The idea for ‘Noises Off’ came in 1970, whilst from the wings Frayn was watching Lyn Redgrave performing in one of his first plays. He noted that the chaos behind the set was funnier than the play itself.
This play was first presented in 1982 with Patricia Routledge and Paul Eddington as the leads. It ran for 5 years, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy. ‘Noises Off’ was rewritten for the 2000 revival, which ran in London for a further two years.
This much-loved comedy is showing at Playlovers, Hackett Hall, Draper Street, Floreat until the 12th March. All shows at 8.00 pm.
As the lights come up, Grieg’s ‘Morning’ plays giving the audience a false feeling of peace and serenity, and then the chaos begins!
A troupe of run-of-the-mill English actors and their ambitious, but temperamental director (Dalton Paull) are putting together an inane sex comedy titled ‘Nothing On’, with semi-clad girls running around and trousers dropping. So the play that we, the audience, see is a blend of the play that the actors are putting on, blended with the true-life characters and their strange, complex personal lives.
Act One. We join the actors on their final chaotic dress rehearsal at the Grand Theatre in Weston-super-Mare. The show is still miles from being competent.
The housekeeper, played by the aptly named Dotty (Fiona Johnson) is looking after her employer’s house whilst he and the family are in Spain. The stuttering local estate agent, Garry (Jarred Scarpa) has been asked to let the house for the summer, and thinking the house is empty, calls around with his ‘secretary’, the dizzy strip club star (Adelle Munsie). No sooner have they arrived and are starting to settle in the bedroom, than the owner’s son, the squeamish Philip (Brett Hatfield) and his capable wife Flavia (Katie Ostrowski) return unexpectedly from Spain.
Meanwhile the poor stage manager, insanely jealous Poppy (Jessica Stenglein) and her overworked assistant, Kim (Erin Craddock) are trying to keep the show up and running. The elderly, alcoholic actor Selsdon(Steve Dillon) who is playing a burglar, staggers through his part from one hidden whisky bottle to the next.
Act Two. We are now watching a performance one month later, but this time it is seen from a different perspective, backstage. The deteriorating relationships amongst the cast are revealed. The performance is a disaster, before the curtain is thankfully lowered.
Act Three It is near the end of the ten-week run, the cast are burnt out and personal friction has continued to increase. Everyone is bored and anxious for the play’s Run just to finish. The actors attempt to cover up a series of mishaps, but only compound the problems by drawing further attention to the bungling performance. Props appear and disappear at the wrong time, but dim Brooke just plods on with her lines undaunted.
This play is exceptionally funny but extremely complex to put on. The set, designed by Jamie Davies – and no doubt built by an army of carpenters – has to be two storeys (front and back), capable of revolving through 180 degrees (twice) and strong enough to take a constant barrage of abuse. An exceptionally well-constructed set.
Most farces have a couple of doors opening and shutting; here we had eight doors and one window, and despite the average age of the actors being in the early twenties, director, Amanda Crewes, had them performing their entrances and exits with split second timing, and an interaction that was nothing short of amazing.
The actors, of course, had to be themselves whilst off stage, jealous and misunderstood then their cool stage characters when the curtain was up. So in effect each performer had at least two very different parts to play for the full three hours of the performance. Everyone had well defined personas, with their own quirks. The action was slick, immensely complex and didn’t once falter.
The whole piece demanded a massive amount of physical action from the cast, but a special mention must go to the acrobatics of Jarred, who at one point brought total silence to the audience convinced that he had killed himself.
With the set moving around, the lighting was bound to be a difficult challenge, but Fiona Reid did a fine job. It is only fair to give a credit to the real Stage Manager, Marie Corrigan and the stage crew, Robyn Shaw, Jill Kennedy, Brian Camp, Alex Hickman and Steve Dillon. I am sure there must be dozens more who have taken on this massive challenge and helped it to succeed.
I thought that the first act was a little too manic, as the three acts should build up to a climax, but this is being very petty with what was an outstanding production in every field. An immense test of the team’s stamina, but well worth the effort. Congratulations.
Grodon the Optom
Noises Off - set