‘Noises Off’ @ Theatre Frisco
—Carol M. Rice
Noises Off has long been a favorite of mine. The instant Michael Frayn’s door-slamming play-within-a-play appeared on the theatre scene in the early 1980s, it became a beloved staple of community and professional theatres everywhere. For some reason, Frayn updated the popular show in the early 2000s. Most people probably don’t even realize the current version has changed because it’s not anything major, but there are some sly jokes missing now, and a few moments that are a bit too pointed in an attempt to make things make sense. This is farce! Farce isn’t supposed to make sense! All that said, Noises Off still is one of the funniest plays out there, as demonstrated by Theatre Frisco’s energetic and exhausting (in a good way) production.
In Noises Off, an intrepid touring company is making its way through England with a racy play called Nothing On. It’s a farce within a farce, and the play opens on the final, disastrous dress rehearsal of Act I. Dotty Otley, the show’s aging star, can’t remember when she’s supposed to take things on and off the stage; Frederick Fellows, the handsome lead, still needs motivation; Lloyd Dallas, the frustrated director, is just trying to get through the rehearsal once before they open the next day (while trying to keep his love affairs with ingenue Brooke and assistant stage manager Poppy from colliding); and Tim Allgood, the overworked stage manager, hasn’t slept in over two days. While this isn’t everyone, it should give you a pretty good idea of the state of things. (Hint: it’s not good.)
For Act II, the stage has flipped around and we see the play from backstage. The little company has been on the road for a while now. Relationships have developed and shattered, and this performance doesn’t help things. The backstage hilarity is most audience members’ favorite part of Noises Off, whether they’re theatre people or not.
In Act III, we’re on the last leg of the tour and back to the front of the stage, eager to see just how far things have deteriorated. It’s not pretty. But it is funny!
Director Neale Whitmore has put together a solid, energetic cast. As Dotty, Sherry Etzel lives up to her name, becoming more confused as the play goes on. Instead of a caricature, Etzel makes Dotty a real person lost in this farce. Bryan Brooks plays Garry Lejeune, Dotty’s young boy toy; he may be a decent actor but can’t finish a sentence in real life. Brooks has a lot of fun with his two personas, and we’re never in doubt which is which. Aaron Gallagher is nose-bleed prone Frederick, also an object of Dotty’s desire. His cluelessness (both as Frederick and his Nothing On stage character Philip) is hysterical, and his physical comedy is spot on.
Kristin Sutton Ford plays the dual roles of Belinda (the actor) and Flavia (clueless Philip’s “play” wife) with ease. Her Belinda is gossipy and fun, her Flavia sweet and organized, and Ford makes both of them believable as the glue attempting to hold the production together. Sydney Hamil gets to bring the dim but beautiful Brooke/Vicki to life. My favorite Vicki moments are in Act III, when she doggedly says her lines in perfect order even as chaos explodes around her. Hamil almost seems too smart for the role at times, as her character(s) are anything but. Veteran actor Paul Niles plays the alcoholic, partially deaf Selsdon with a bombastic energy that belies the character’s age. His Burglar bursts loudly onto the stage (when he hears his cue), though not always at the appropriate moment.
Lloyd, the director of Nothing On, is played by Jason DeArmond. His soothing attempts at persuading the actors to do what he asks in Act I are slowly replaced by frustration and shouting, even during Act II when he’s “not there.” DeArmond is at his funniest trying to woo Brooke while avoiding Poppy, played by Ellie Williams. This is where the revised edition of Noises Off fails, as Poppy’s original monologue at the end of Act II (as she tries desperately to communicate with Lloyd while the show is in progress) ends up as a single line.
However, the start of Act III is an improvement in the revised version: stage manager Tim Allgood gets to comes out onstage to make his “pre-show announcements”—instead of our hearing only a line or two over the loudspeaker. David Helms shines as Tim (and in all the other roles he has to play throughout), showing excellent comic timing and physicality.
Noises Off wouldn’t work without an amazing set and backstage crew, and set designer Rodney Dobbs has created a fabulous revolving set, complete with “Otstar Productions” stamped on the back of the flats. (It’s stated early in Act I that Dotty Otley put money into the show.) The crew moving the set between each act consists of MD Christian, Melissa Feldman, Sara Box Zakarian, and Elise Knox, supervised by stage manager Katy Hill. These behind-the-scenes folks aren’t usually mentioned in a review like this, but this show literally couldn’t happen without them.
Theatre Frisco’s production of Noises Off is well worth seeing. The third act gets a little muddy, as it’s sometimes hard to tell who’s still mad at who and what’s actually causing much of the hijinks—but you’ll be laughing so hard, it won’t matter. Noises Off runs for two more weekends in Frisco Discovery Center’s Black Box Theater, and they do tend to sell out. Don’t wait to get your tickets!
WHEN: November 8-24, 2024
WHERE: Frisco Discovery Center, 8004 Dallas Parkway, Frisco TX
WEB: theatrefrisco.com
