The London Theatre Review: West End’s Noises Off

by Ross

The last time I saw Noises Off, the nearly perfect British farce from 1982 by playwright Michael Frayn (Benefactors; Make and Break), now celebrating its 40th anniversary, was back in 2016 at the Roundabout Theater on Broadway and starring Andrea Martin, Campbell Scott, Megan Hilty, and Rob McClure. Utterly delicious, not to mention the ridiculously funny film version and hilariously well-executed 2001 Broadway revival that starred Patti LuPone, Peter Gallagher, and Faith Prince. Those two were all so magnificently delivered, finding mountains of hilarity at every turn. And now, there is this one. A revival, lovingly delivered to our hungry selves from the land that essentially created the so-called British sex (or bedroom) farce. How could it not be great? So off I went with some pretty high expectations, I must add, and I wasn’t disappointed. Well, not completely, but also not entirely.

This delightfully adept West End revival, brought forth by Theatre Royal Bath Productions and directed solidly by Lindsay Posner (Old Vic’s Other Desert Cities; Off-Broadway’s The End of Longing), is pretty darn pitch-perfect, with all the doors slamming at exactly the moment required for the best of all possible farcical outcomes. “Put the receiver back, and leave the sardines,” she reminds herself. That’s right because when this play within a brilliant play is handled well and executed properly by a full team of theatre pros doing their best, it’s nearly impossible to ruin the fun. Albeit, comedy is hard, and needs a courageous strong hand to hold it tight. And here, in this wildly funny sweet re-enactment, there’s a layer of vulnerability and engagement that I hadn’t felt before, and it added something unique to the proceedings, while possibly taking a bit away from the madness of the door slamming. Sorta a two-steps-forward, one-step-back scenario, as each of the three acts of Noises Off dutifully presents the same Act One of Nothing On, a somewhat terrible farce set in Philip and Flavia Brent’s English country house. The first act of Noises Off showcases the company on their final night of rehearsal, trying and failing (miraculously and hilariously) to get all the lines and actions down right as the clock ticks closer and closer to their opening at the Grand Theatre in the English town of Weston-super-Mare.

As the frustrated and tired director of Nothing On, Lloyd, played solidly by a hilarious Alexander Hanson (O2’s Jesus Christ Superstar), tells us early on in rehearsal, that this is a play about doors, boxes, bags, and sardines. Along with sheets, a dress, whiskey bottles, and an axe. It’s all in the timing, and to get it right, the actors can’t vary their movements by an inch or a millisecond. Doors opening, doors closing. Exits and entrances. Sardines. No sardines. It has to be exacting to make it all work. And this cast of professionals is spot-on perfect, never missing a beat or failing to get the laugh.

The energy and alignment of the cast feel pretty much right and true, with a warm-hearted engagement that isn’t necessarily over the top. It borders on something akin to hysterical, even as I got the feeling that some crucial element might be missing or askew. The well-known stage actor, Felicity Kendal (Menier Chocolate Factory’s Lettice and Lovage; Duke of York’s Hay Fever) lovingly dives into the role of the fading TV star, Dotty Otley, who has put her fame and fortune on the line for the tour of this ridiculous farce. She is hoping for financial salvation by starring in and playing the housekeeper Mrs. Clackett in Nothing On, and somewhere inside her portrayal of an actor playing a housekeeper, we feel her presence with something closer to natural than maybe the edge I was expecting. She brings a warmth and honesty that I was used to seeing in the part, a part usually played boldly for all the laughs that live inside it. But here, there was something different, and the outcome, all of a sudden was up in the air.

The opening bit with Dotty/Mrs. Clackett is forever a fantastic bit of stage work, as she struggles to get it right with the phone, her sardines, her newspaper, her lines, and her exits. It flows fabulously well, especially because of all her mistakes and misplaced sardines. She feels so much more human, and maybe a bit vulnerable in her need for this to work out for her. Then one by one, we are introduced to the rest of the cast as they bumble and flail through this troubled rehearsal. Stopping and starting up again, just to say the things these actors, played by actors, seem to feel they need to say. They are all simply fantastic, finding authentic connections inside the farcical elements required. It’s deliciously funny, but the main focus here is not so much what’s happening, as I told my companion at Theatre Royal Haymarket Theatre, but what details we are being given. This scene has been gifted to us to give us all the information we need for Act Two and Act Three of Noises Off to work its magic. Because once we know what’s happening (or supposed to happen) onstage in Act One of Nothing On, we are set up well to really enjoy the two remaining Acts of Noises Off. That structuring is the key, exactly what crowns this farce King of all farces.

Act Two of Noises Off takes place a month later, in a different theatre (Theatre Royal, Ashton-under-Lyne) for a real performance in front of an audience (unseen). You see, rehearsals are over, and, the cast and crew are now on tour. Driving forth with the dedicated stage manager, Poppy (Pepter Lunkuse), and the faithful handyman, Tim (Oscar Batterham) leading the charge. The director has moved on to bigger and (possibly) better things. But for us, once again, we are going to watch Act One of Nothing On played out for real, but this time, from backstage. We see all the same doors and windows, but from the other side, thanks to the detailed delicious work of designer Simon Higlett (Chichester’s The Jungle Book), with steller lighting by Paul Pyant (West End’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and a solid sound design by Gregory Clarke (Almeida’s Cloud Nine). Nerves and frustrations are unraveling backstage, and the actors are at each other’s throats. One of the most brilliant concepts in Noises Off is that once the play has finally begun (and that takes a bit of time and a lot of laughs, to get to the moment when the curtain rises), pandemonium reigns supreme backstage. Still, the only actual lines being said by these actors are the lines of the play within the play that is still being performed on the other side of the wall. We all know what’s happening (or supposed to be happening) on stage (thanks to Act One), but the true comedy is found in all that is happening silently backstage. That is the fantastically hilarious part.

After interval number two, we come back again for another round of Act One of Nothing On, with Act Three of Noises Off bringing us to the last stop on this UK tour (Municipal Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees). Are you still with me? The backstage bickering has only increased, and we can’t help but get the feeling that whatever clashes existed before, backstage, are about to explode far beyond what we just witnessed. Yet, this time, once again, we get to watch the play from the audience’s perspective, and to no one’s surprise, it’s an utter disaster, in the best of all possible ways. All the actors playing these terrible actors playing ridiculous silly farcical characters try to keep the story going forward, ad-libbing desperately and delightfully, but the camaraderie has deteriorated so completely that only chaos remains.

Sasha Frost (Rose Theatre’s Persuasion) as the brainless Brooke, Pepter Lunkuse (The Park’s The Vertical Hour) as the side-stepped stage manager Poppy, Oscar Batterham (RSC’s Richard III) as a put-upon Tim, and especially James Fleet (Gielgud Theatre’s The Ladykillers) as the drunken Selsdon are all comic gifts to the stage, delivering well the goods in the most delightful of ways. The only complaint I have of this whole show lies in the portrayal of love and attraction. We, the audience, are informed of all these romantic escapades by the gossipy Belinda, portrayed hilariously by Tamzin Outhwaite (“EastEnders“; West End’s Boeing Boeing), and although we don’t see much proof of this adoration or even its sexual chemistry, we willing accept what we are told. But we do become witness to the hilarity that jealousy creates, especially because of the romantic entanglements of Dottie and Garry, portrayed wonderfully by Mathew Horne (Trafalgar Studios’ The Pride), and how the simpleton Frederick, played perfectly by Jonathan Coy (West End’s INK) gets tied up in all of it.

Have I said too much? To be frank, I don’t think it really matters. I knew exactly what was in store for us, and it didn’t make me laugh one bit less, although I didn’t laugh one bit more this time around. The play feels somehow a tad more relevant and just a bit more real as unpacked with pathos by this very game cast of actors. Yet, is that a good thing? The characters in general are often portrayed strictly for some fun and a huge number of laughs, but, here, each one comes with a knowing nod of something more desperate. Clearly, this production has a little more edge on its mind than typical, dropping in a bit of vulnerable lightness that made it not exactly as funny as I had wanted, but it served up a few other interesting things instead of just the typical plate of cold sardines. As written, Noises Off requires something close to total professionalism from its acting crew, finding the funny in all this flurry, and this team delivers something that is pretty close to perfection with a dab of something different, making it look ever so easy and seamless, even in their (purposefully) stumbling and (unintentional) falling down.