Michael Frayn's Classic Farce NOISES OFF Next Up for ACT 1

Michael Frayn's classic farce Noises Off debuts at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater May 12, running through May 27, in a production helmed by Bradley Moore for ACT 1's 2016-17 season.

Written in 1982, the play was inspired by an event in the playwright's life: The idea came in 1970, when Frayn was watching from the wings a performance of The Two of Us, a farce that he had written for
Lynn Redgrave.

"It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind," he says. The prototype for Noises Off, a short-lived one-act play called Exits, was written and performed in 1977. At the request of his associate, Michael Codron, Frayn expanded this into what would become Noises Off.

Moore cast for ACT 1's Noises Off includes an ensemble featuring some of Nashville's best-known actors: Cat Arnold plays Dottie, Meggan Utech as Belinda, J. RoBert Lindsey as Frederick, Christina Candilora as Brooke, Brett Myers as Garry, Gregory Alexander plays Lloyd, Jackson Rector plays Tim, Elizabeth Walsh plays Poppy and Phil Brady plays Selsdon. Arnold, Utech, Candilora, Alexander and Walsh all performed alongside Moore earlier this season in ACT 1's production of both parts of Tony Kushner's acclaimed Angels in America.

Noises Off opens May 12, 2017 and runs through May 27 at the Darkhorse Theater, located at 4610 Charlotte Pike. Thursday-Saturday shows begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday Matinees at 5 p.m. Tickets
are only $15 online at www.tickets.act1online.com and at the door.

Photo by Eric Ventress Photography: (from the top) Brett Myers, Gregory Alexander, J. RoBert Lindsey, Liz Walsh, Phil Perry, Meggan Utech, Christina Candilora, Jackson Rector and Cat Arnold.