Theatre Review: ‘Noises Off’ Sings

Noises Off, written by Michael Frayne, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott. Produced by A Noise Within. Copyright 1982. (Seen April 25, 2018.)

I have often written about my love of British media on this site, whether it’s television shows such as Doctor Who and Sherlock, the British dry comedy, or the theatre scene. My mom was the one to introduce me to British comedy, with a heavy application of Monty Python, The Benny Hill Show, and Are You Being Served? One of the things those all have in common is farce.

During the pre-show symposium hosted by Kevin Wetmore, he called Noises Off a meta-farce, which explains part of why I love this show so much. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with the idea of meta in productions, whether it’s breaking the fourth wall, having a show within a show, or inside jokes to other productions (i.e., Nathan Fillion’s character dressing up like a ‘space cowboy’ in an episode of Castle). When done badly, it detracts from the show and feels like self-plagiarism, but when done well, it adds something great.

This production is even further meta: they provide fake bios for the actors (and the director, but not the other two ‘crew’ characters), and co-director Geoff Elliot plays director Lloyd Dallas. Additionally, their show page has a series of videos with the ‘actors’ talking about working in Nothing On (the show within a show).

What makes a farce work, as Wetmore himself noted in said symposium, is the timing. And with Noises Off, it adds in the audience expectations of that timing as well as the knowledge of the cast and crew, which leads to many incidents where normally the farce would go left and this goes right. Additionally, each act is funnier because of what had happened in the prior act: Act II’s humor relies heavily in knowing the backstage goings on from Act I, and Act III is just a culmination of everything so far.

So when I say that this production of Noises Off is damn near perfect, I don’t say that lightly. The pacing is so well done that you could sing to it. There’s a certain sequence in the second act that involves Garry (Kasey Mahaffy), Freddy (Jeremy Rabb), Dotty (Deborah Strang), and an axe that got a round of applause from the audience last night and had me laughing to tears.

Now, this being previews, it was a little rough at the beginning, and Mahaffy especially took a bit to get into the swing of his character. But by the end of the first act, I was remembering that there’s a reason I stopped doing community theatre, and it was partly because of people like Garry.

Of course, you can’t review a production of Noises Off without reviewing the set. I must admit: when they announced the show, not being aware that they had done it before, I was curious how it was going to play out in their space. The rotating stage is a vital part of the production, and I was nervous as to what they’d be able to do. I should’ve known better: the main set (with all the doors) was set up with alcoves to place the various set pieces into it, and then rotated easily. It was glorious to watch.

If you love British comedy, Noises Off is a thing of beauty. It is a bright spot during a time when humor is few and far between. Noises Off plays until May 20 at A Noise Within, and more information can be found at their website.