40th anniversary production of Michael Frayn’s comedy Noises Off packs theatre
Noises Off at the Oxford Playhouse from February 20-24
Review by JON LEWIS
LINDSAY Posner’s 40th anniversary production of Michael Frayn’s comedy Noises Off for the Theatre Royal Bath, recast since opening in 2022, drew a packed audience to the Oxford Playhouse on press night.
It’s still a hilarious dissection of theatre-making written with an insider’s experience of touring a show to theatres in Ashton-under-Lyne and Worksop, but the ridiculing of a dysfunctional company rehearsing and performing a play has evolved since Mischief Theatre’s The Play that Goes Wrong, itself 10 years old.
Each of the three acts of Noises Off enables the audience to enjoy a different perspective of Otstar Productions Ltd’s farce Nothing On.
In the first act the director Lloyd Dallas (Simon Shepherd) is directing a technical rehearsal from an aisle to the side of the stalls of the Playhouse.
Some of the laughs derive from the lines in the creaky farce and many more from the company’s attempts to find some kind of acceptable performance before the show opens the next day.
The second act takes place backstage with the set rotated. As actors and technicians’ personal problems occur, so the levels of physical comedy needing pinpoint timing become the highlight of the show.
Lloyd has arrived to sort out his relationships with the company’s young women, Brooke (Lisa Ambalavanar), an actress who delivers her lines as planned without the skill of improvising when things go wrong, and who keeps losing her contact lens, and technician Poppy (Nikhita Lesler) who is pregnant by Lloyd.
The oldest actor, Selsdon (Paul Bradley), has a drink problem so there is a lot of fun with the cast failing to hide a bottle of whisky from him.
The cast’s star, Dotty (Liza Goddard), has an improbable relationship with her younger co-star Garry (Dan Fredenburgh) and frequently goes off to sulk in the loos.
The third act sees Nothing On self-destructs when everyone’s personal issues intrude into the performance.
Much sympathy goes to the frantic actress peacemaker Belinda (Lucy Robinson), the nose-bleeding Frederick (Simon Coates) and the hapless gofer Tim (Daniel Rainford) in attempting to keep the wheels on the car.
A comedy classic.
