“Noises off” are sounds made offstage intended for the ears of the audience. It is also a 1982 farce by the English playwright Michael Frayn focusing on the back-stage conversations and arguments of the actors during a production.
It felt like a slow start and a bit dated. Although having the exasperated but patient “director” shouting instructions during late technical rehearsals from the audience was an interesting device. The plot of the play being rehearsed slowly unfolded with regular interruptions from the very real lives of the actors who were struggling with their performances for one reason or another.
However, the first act had enough stereotypes (the dumb blonde, the drunk, the Prima Donna, the tax avoiding ex-Pat, the has-been, the gushy estate agent, the eternal triangle) and luviness (everyone calling each other “My Love”, “My Precious” and “My Sweet” regardless of the sentiment) to keep us all chuckling.
But after the interval things in Acts 2 and 3 took a fabulous turn and the pace accelerated. We were thrust into the backstage world which we had previously only glimpsed. And the action hurtled into slapstick farce with a healthy dose of skilful physical comedy. Sub-plots emerged and developed.
The timing of the players (many of them recognised actors) was perfection as the chaos ensued. The audience loved it as things spiralled into pandemonium. All credit to the production team for ensuring that malfunctioning props looked utterly authentic with split-second timing.
I am sure that this play was - in part - the inspiration for the highly successful “The play that went wrong”. It’s a thoroughly recommended evening of innocent fun and belly laughs.
