Noises Off

Published Monday 15 September 2008 at 11:00 by Sheila Tracy

The New York Times described Michael Frayn’s Noises Off as ‘the funniest comedy ever written’ and they could be right. We are rarely treated to what goes on behind the scenes in a theatre and although hopefully things are never as chaotic as in this play, it makes great entertainment.

Jonathan Coy, whose voice is heard from the back of the auditorium, from where he makes his entrance, plays an increasingly frustrated director trying desperately to whip his actors into shape on the final dress rehearsal before the opening night of a tour of Nothing On.

Laura Matthews as his leading lady is holding up rehearsal as everybody looks for her contact lens, lost while prancing about the stage in black tights, suspenders and a bustier. Meanwhile, Maggie Steed as the fraught housekeeper is having trouble with a plate of sardines, whether to take them or leave them, and Colin Baker as a delightfully bungling burglar has a problem hearing his cues.

Come Act II, we switch to backstage where chaos reigns during a performance with the cast now minus their director. We are out front again for Act III with Ben Hull as the leading man, falling down the stairs of the set, bringing half the banisters with him, and generating a huge round of applause. The amount of business that has to be worked out and then remembered by the actors is truly amazing and they are all quite superb. Not to be missed.