murraybramwell.com

November 03, 2005

Romping through a fine farce

2005
Theatre

Murray Bramwell

Noises Off
By Michael Frayn
State Theatre Company of South Australia
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Theatre.
November 1, 2005. Tickets $13.50- $49. Bookings BASS 131 246
Until November 19.

Noises off are off-stage sound effects – like a pistol shot in Chekhov, bells tolling, or someone selling flowers for the dead. However, in Michael Frayn’s classic 1982 farce they refer to the sounds of the actors themselves writhing in pain, calling out prompt lines, falling down stairs and occasionally trying to kill each other. And while we don’t have quite the equivalent of English touring rep theatre, the predicaments in Frayn’s hilariously ingenious text are familiar to anyone who has had anything to do with the fiendishly difficult task of putting on a play.

Noises Off is the stage equivalent of an exploded diagram, or a three- dimensional Escher drawing. In Act One we have the first act of Nothing On, a very close take on the Cooney and Rix comedies which flourished in the 1970s and later (it’s hard to believe that Frayn actually predicts Run For Your Wife by two years !) In Act Two, designer Graham Maclean’s elaborate country house woodgrain, banister and bay window set revolves to reveal the entire backstage area and the play goes farce-about, so to speak, re-enacting the same scene – this time on the road and full of potholes. For the final act, we return to full frontal to find the play in tatters and the actors at their wits’ end.

Director Adam Cook has successfully revived a play that not only wittily parodies (and trumps) the three-door sex-romp farces but amusingly captures the inter-personals in a theatre cast. Of course it is funny that the grand old Selsdon Mowbray ( Dennis Olsen having fine time) is only one drink away from oblivion, or Poppy, the stage manager (Michaela Cantwell) is a willing dogsbody to the imperious director Lloyd Dallas (Marco Chiappi) . But as the characters panic over lost lines and prop malfunctions, nurse disappointments and suffer slights from a director hysterical to get a play ready for opening, Frayn reminds us that actors will go through flames to keep the illusion alive.

The performances are evenly accomplished. Annie Maynard deadpan as the wiggly blonde, Caroline Mignone stylishly droll as Belinda and Geoff Revell ever more manic as his bandages multiply. Bridget Walters is especially dotty in Act Three and Michael Habib is outstanding as the dim-witted Gary Lejeune, his staircase routine a marvel to behold. Cook and company have done well with their end-of-season knees-up. With its fast, furious, Swiss-watch timing, its missing door handles and disappearing sardines, Noises Off makes even the stuff-ups in the theatre sound like fun.

“Romping through a fine farce” The Australian, November 3, 2005, p.14.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment