From Deseret News archives:
'Noises Off' is hilarious
LOGAN — Since being written in the early 1980s by playwright Michael Frayn, "Noises Off" has become a staple of community and semiprofessional theater. Done correctly, the setting, the dialogue, the oddball characters and the slapstick choreography will leave an audience wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.
The Old Lyric Repertory Company does it right.
For the third time in 20-plus years, the company tackles the play-within-a-play and generally succeeds.
"Noises Off" follows a troupe of less-than-perfect actors as they prepare to take a production ("Nothing On") on the road in England.
Act 1 is a peek at the final rehearsal for the play.
Act 2 turns the set around and gives the audience a look at the backstage shenanigans about a month later.
Act 3 presents the final show produced by the group, after audience members — in the Old Lyric, not in the traveling show — have come to know the actors, their quirks, their loves and foibles as they gamely try to just finish the show. By now it's become a farce-within-a-farce, with some characters playing roles other than their own and lots of costume changes and fall-down-funny silliness done at a breakneck pace.
For a few moments on opening night, the production felt less professional than patrons have come to expect. It started 13 minutes late, offstage noises meant to be part of the show were too soft, the creaky stairs were too creaky and there was an untimely curtain opening during intermission. It was also a bit odd that only some players tried British accents.
Act 1 was slightly slow and stiff initially. William Warren (playing director Lloyd Dallas) sounded a bit too rehearsed and not exasperated enough. Dotty Otley (played by Tracie Norton) tried a Cockney accent that trailed off a bit, and some lines were mumbled. But once there were more members of the oddball troupe onstage, timing and characterizations picked up.
Amanda Beatty (playing stage manager Poppy Norton-Taylor) saves the first scenes with her wide-eyed panicked presentation. And Ron King, as a bottle-tipping, near-deaf actor, was not projecting well enough, but he, too, found his voice. Frederick Fellowes is played by Kent Hadfield, perfect as a nondescript struggling actor who gets nosebleeds when people raise their voices. Tim Smith plays the stage manager, and after a so-what Act 1 becomes an audience favorite.
But the bulk of the production's success falls to Richie Call. As Garry Lejeune, he brings waves of laughter with a lift of his eyebrow or a drop of his head. His frustration with the failing moments of "Nothing On" gives "Noises Off" is just right, and his delivery provides glue to an Act 3 that resembles a human whack-a-mole game.
E-mail: jay@statesman.serv.usu.edu
