Noises Off 2012
by Michael Frayn
Directed by William Myatt
Director's Note
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My introduction to madcap comedy came from watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus on public television and The Carol Burnett Show on CBS. Whether we weren’t expecting The Spanish Inquisition or Tim Conway and Harvey Korman cracking each other up, the door-slamming, mistaken identity, tightrope walking elements of farce, became ingrained in me.
Farce is dangerous. It truly is working without a net.
Noises Off is, perhaps, the most intricate, dangerous script I know. Not only does it entail a farce, it contains a farce within the farce, although “within” may not be completely the correct adverb.
Nothing On, the farce “within” the farce, is a perfectly stereotypical, awful example of the British sex farce. This genre includes such titles as such as No Sex Please, We’re British; What the Butler Saw; Run for Your Wife; and American entry Love, Sex, and the IRS (performed on The Spartan Stage in ‘04 – ‘05).
It is all about one door opening as another one closes; two women with the same hairstyle who happen to wear the same dress to a party; etc. Nothing On, if it were a real play, would be challenging. Noises Off adds another layer as we see a theatre company preparing to open a national tour of Nothing On.
Added to the farce of Nothing On is a farce about producing a farce. This is insane enough, but the farce bubbles over as Noises Off adds yet another nuance. We see the “national tour” approximately a month into its run from backstage. By now relationships have formed between the British actors and we see those relationships influence the production of Nothing On as they struggle through a performance.
If that wasn’t enough Act Three (Act Two, scene two in our production), shows us a performance near the end of the tour when they just don’t care anymore. This show has offered us numerous challenges (and headaches) on stage and back stage. But just like Harvey and Tim, we are having a phenomenal time working without a net.
Although it has been fun, I can’t wait to go home and put my feet up with a nice plate of sardines.
Synopsis
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Noises Off, Michael Frayn’s Tony award winning, comic masterpiece is not one play, but two: the hilariously horrible, British farce, “Nothing On,” and the comedic nightmare that ensues backstage. Slamming doors, flying props, prat falls, sardines, and two-story revolving sets abound as we see the first act of “Nothing On” presented three times, each with successively less attention to the script.
The under-rehearsed actors and technicians desperately try to perform even as their rapidly deteriorating relationships cause mass hysteria and make for some hysterical comedy both off-stage and on. They all quickly find that as they muddle through, the more they work to take control, the funnier and more chaotic it gets!
Noises Off is written with a wit and heart that allows it to be more than a mere farce or parody of a farce; it speaks to what we love about theatre and makes us laugh at our dramas, both onstage and off.
CAST
Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett - Liz Coin
Lloyd Dallas - Max Moline
Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain - Owen Hoke
Brooke Ashton/Vicki - Alexandra Olsen
Poppy Norton-Taylor - Sadie Fah
Frederick Fellowes/Philip Brent - Paul Conway
Belinda Blair/Flavia Brent - Haley Nellis
Tim Allgood - Casey Graham
Selsdon Mowbray/Burglar - Colin Wischler
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CREW
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Technical Director - Valerie Thompson
Assistant Director - Addie Espeseth
Stage Manager - Ben Lewis
Master Carpenter - Justin Bader
Props Masters - Samantha Keuter and Montana Watkins
Costume/Make-up Designer - Kim Leiphon
Lighting Designer - Owen Hoke
Costume Head - Laurelin Berkley
Make-up Heads - Emma Thompson and Jacqeline Colarusso
Hair Heads - Jacqueline Colarusso and Rachel Guhin
Master Electrician - Ben Roys
Light Board Operator - Emily Beilke
Sound Heads - Alex Kurth and Galayna Wade
PR Heads - Sarah McCraw and Sadie Fah
Lighting Crew - Mike Gates
Sound Boad Operator - Galayna Wade
Set Crew - Justin Bader, Emily Beilke, Sarah Bubbers, Zachary Chaplain, Liz Coin, Paul Conway, Katie Dwyer, Addie Espeseth, Sadie Fah, Casey Graham, Owen Hoke,
Samantha Kueter, Ben Lewis, Max Moline, Ben Roys,
Claire Swanson, Galayna Wade, Montana Watkins and
Colin Wischler
Hair and Make-up Crew - Gina Mostafa
Shift Crew - Justin Bader, Reilly Bierhaus, Addie Espeseth, Sienna Fah, Samantha Kueter, Ben Roys,
Melody Schick, Claire Swanson and Montana Watkins
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