Noises Off a Comedic Play by Michael Frayn

Englands Daily Telegraph reviewed the  touring production of Noises Off, calling it the funniest comedy ever written. Thats a bold claim, especially since weve met people who have seen the play and were not amused. They offered such opinions as: Its too long.Too much slapstick.I thought it was vulgar. As we  spoke with these unimpressed audience members, we learned that they had never been involved in the theater. Playwright Michael Frayn created Noises Off   in the early 1980s. It is a love letter and an inside joke to those of us familiar with the thrilling and unpredictable nature of the stage. Noise Off Noises Off   is a play within a play. It is about an ambitious director and his troupe of mediocre actors. The cast and crew are putting together a silly sex comedy titled, Nothing On - a single-set farce in which lovers frolic, doors slam, clothes are tossed away, and embarrassing hi-jinks ensue. The three acts of Noises Off   expose different phases of the disastrous show, Nothing On: Act One: On stage during dress rehearsal.Act Two: Backstage during a matinee performance.Act Three: On stage during a delightfully ruined performance. Act One: the Dress Rehearsal While the impatient director, Lloyd Dallas, trudges through the opening scene of Noises On, the actors keep breaking character. Dottie keeps forgetting when to take her plate of sardines. Garry keeps challenging the stage directions in the script. Brooke is clueless about her fellow performers  and constantly loses her contact lens. Act One lampoons the common problems which typically occur during the rehearsal process: Forgetting your lines.Second guessing your director.Misplacing your props.Missing your entrances.Falling in love with fellow cast members. Yes, aside from all of the physical comedy, the conflict of Noises Off   is intensified when several of the theater romances turn sour. Because of jealousy, double-crosses, and misunderstandings, tensions mount, and the performances of Nothing On go from bad to worse to wonderfully awful. Act Two: Backstage Antics The second act of Noises Off   takes place entirely backstage. Traditionally, the entire set is rotated to reveal the behind the scenes events which unfold. It is fun to watch the same scene of Nothing On from a different perspective. For anyone who has been backstage during a show—especially when something goes wrong—Act Two is bound to conjure a flood of hilarious memories. Despite the characters backstabbing one another, they somehow manage to get through their scene. But thats not the case with the final act of the play. Act Three: When Everything Goes Wrong In Act Three of Noises Off,, the cast of Nothing On has been performing their show for nearly three months. They are seriously burnt out. When Dottie makes a few mistakes during her opening scene, she just begins to ramble, making up lines from off the top of her head. The rest of the characters then make a series of mistakes: Garry cant improvise his way out of a paper bag.Brooke doesnt pay attention to the changes that are rapidly occurring—she just keeps doing her lines, even when they arent appropriate.The veteran actor, Selsdon, cant keep away from booze. By the plays end, their show is a comical catastrophe—and the audience is rolling in the aisles, loving every moment. If you have never experienced theater as an actor or a crew member, then perhaps Noises Off   is simply an entertaining show with a lot of laughs. However, for those of us who tread the boards, Michael Frayns Noises Off   might very well be the funniest play ever written.