It has been said that “once is not enough” to get all the jokes and catch every sight gag in this hilarious farce “Noises Off” – called the funniest farce ever written. The story unfolds as the actors are rehearsing a badly written play late into the evening causing everyone to share in the overall confusion and frustration along with doors slamming; intrigue on and off stage and relationships overlapping – the result is an absurdly funny and action-packed, fast paced comedy.
The play opens with a bewildered road company flailing through the dress rehearsal of a flop called “Nothing On” – a silly romantic comedy scheduled to open the next night in a small suburban town. The second act of the play ingeniously presents a backstage view of the same show a month into the run showcasing all the funny drama of the actors own acts of love, lust, jealousy, suspicions and heartbreak. In the final act, the backstage confusions erupt and spill onto the live staged play creating some of the funniest and most outrageous moments of the play.
“Noises Off” originally opened on Broadway in 1983 to rave reviews and ran for over 550 performances earning several awards including Best Outstanding Ensemble. It was revived on Broadway in 2001 and again won numerous awards. The play is a unique glimpse into the backstage mechanics of rehearsing for a play – made even more real by having the physical set turned around after the first act so the audience can see and experience what happens backstage during a live performance.
Review: The play was reviewed by Christopher Peterson from On Stage Blog. Excerpts from the review:
- the work of the Saybrook Stage Company was utterly enjoyable
- the cast was uniformly strong
- All these elements – the wonderful mannerisms of the cast, the bad play-within-a-play, Marchitto’s keen eye for staging – best manifest itself in the second act which...quickly dissolves into an extended, nearly silent physical comedy ballet. It’s an incredibly impressive feat of stagecraft with all the precise timing and wit of a living silent movie. Despite the high level of technical difficulty, Marchitto and his cast do a seamless job, creating a highly memorable set piece that left the audience breathless, both from laughing and from secondhand physical exhaustion.
- Click here for the complete review
The Cast of "Noises Off"
Scenes From The Live Peformances:
