Noises Off Review
Birmingham Repertory Theatre – until 9th September 2023
Reviewed by Emma Millward
5*****
Noises Off was first conceived by writer Michael Frayn whilst watching another of his plays from the wings, where he realised the action backstage is just as interesting as what is happening onstage. He set out to write a play-within-a play with a farcical flavour. The play premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London in 1982. Productions of it have continued to be staged in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia ever since.
Each of the three acts contain a performance of the first act of the ‘play-within-a-play’, a saucy sex farce called ‘Nothing On’, each time seen from a different perspective. In Act 1, we see the final rehearsal before opening night at the Grand Theatre, Weston-Super-Mare, The cast keep forgetting their lines …. and plates of sardines! Act 2 (after a swift 180 degree turn of the set during the interval) finds us backstage at a Wednesday matinee performance at the Theatre Royal in Ashton-Under Lyne, where bickering, whiskey drinking and trousers falling down look set to ruin the show. Act 3 (after an even swifter 3-minute interval to switch the set back) finds us in the audience of a performance of the play as it nears the end of the ten-week run in Stockton-on-Tees. Relationships between the cast have now completely soured, Nobody knows what props they are meant to be using, where they are in the script or what is happening!
The stellar ensemble cast of nine actors left me feeling exhausted just watching them. I honestly would struggle to single any of them out, as they are all amazing and perfectly in time with each other. The play starts slowly with Liza Goddard’s Dotty Ottley/Mrs Clackett struggling to deal with her lines of dialogue and plates of sardines, much to the annoyance of the director, Lloyd Dallas (played by Simon Shepherd, who is sitting among the audience as he directs the rehearsal). As more of the cast take to the stage, the rehearsal descends into chaos. Actors are questioning the script, doors aren’t opening when they should, and they can’t seem to find Selsdon Mowbray (played beautifully by Matthew Kelly), who apparently likes a tipple or ten.
Talking of the doors, they play a huge part in the play. The two-storey set, designed to look like the interior of a cottage, has 7 doors, which are used constantly throughout the play to great comedic effect. Cast members are locked in or out of rooms, doors are swung in people’s faces and door handles fall off. Dan Fredenburgh as Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain is especially frenetic as he manoeuvres staircases with his shoes tied together, bashes into the scenery and ultimately takes a spectacular forward dive down the main staircase. The pace of the play increases minute by minute, until it’s hitting breakneck speed by the final act where things totally go off the rails and it’s down to Belinda Blair (played with shrieking glee by Lucy Robinson) to try and hold everything together and somehow, improvise a fitting ending for the show.
Writer Michael Frayn has occasionally updated the play over the years to remove outdated subjects or add extra scenes, but the quintessential British farcical humour still runs through its centre like a stick of seaside rock!!!