by MICHAEL FRAYN
DIRECTED by SAM RUSH
June 17, 18, 19 & 24, 25, 26, 2010
THEATRE 14
MENDENHALL CENTER OF THE PERFORMING ARTS
122 GREEN STREET
SMITH COLLEGE CAMPUS
NORTHAMPTON MA
(accessible, air-conditioned)
BOX OFFICE
413-585-3220
NCT opens its 2010 season with the top choice audience favorite from its 2000 season. NOISES OFF peeks backstage at the ridiculous antics of the cast and crew of the fictitious play "Nothing On." Winner of the 1982 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, this is the ultimate backstage farce -- full of slamming doors, missed cues, and mistaken identity. Join original cast members Cate Damon, Buzz Roddy, and James Emery as we kick off our 20th year with this sidesplitting comedy that must be seen to be believed.
~~~~~~~~~
Deliciously Raucous
Reviewed by Donna Bailey-Thompson
Farce: a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot; the broad humor characteristic of farce or pretense; a ridiculous or empty show; mockery (the enforcement of this law became a farce).
Slapstick: comedy stressing farce and horseplay.
-- Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary
“We don’t know where we are but, by God, here we are!” Thus spake one of the characters during the early wacky minutes of Noises Off, a sentiment that did not abate during three high-energy acts and two blessed intermissions when the audience could catch its breath from almost non-stop laughing.
The beauty of Noises Off begins with the script’s impeccable construction, a feat its playwright Michael Frayn duplicated in his intense analytical play, Copenhagen. Otherwise, the scripts are as unlike as night and day.
Next of importance is the director’s vision. Living within Sam Rush’s bones is the awareness of timing: Rush knows how long to let a joke build, explode, crest and fade. He knows that having actors in ridiculous situations play it straight boosts funny bone reactions. He also knows when to throw in pieces of business that induce chuckles or belly laughs.
Then to be blessed with a cast that also “knows funny,” who play their roles as if their plights deserve serious attention, is to experience a production that takes the audience to the edge of hysteria.
Noises Off is a play within a play. At their technical rehearsal, the actors are still unsure of their lines and movement. The play see-saws between scenes within a drama and reality. Regardless, whether acting or reacting to life, the merriment is non-stop.
Act Two is a masterpiece. The ingenious set design by Daniel D. Rist (lighting, too) is rotated half way from the front-of-the-house set (a country living room) to backstage. When the play we’ve just seen in the first act is played again, the actors not on stage pantomime so as not to disturb those on stage. Antics worthy of Marx Brothers’ classic routines give laugh muscles Olympic workouts. I couldn’t make notes because I was laughing virtually continuously, marveling at the faultless timing and the concentration required during rehearsals to perfect the tossing of props, the fast-paced entrances and exits, the appropriately exaggerated body language.
Everyone in the cast is, well, wonderful. In order of their appearance, here they are: Sara Whitcomb, Phil Kilbourne, Patrick Tango, Lisa Abend, Molly Haas-Hooven, Buzz Roddy, Cate Damon, James Emery, Steve Brady. During the run of Noises Off, no one in the cast will put on weight, not with the energy they burn off during performances.
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