Review: NOISES OFF at Barrington Stage Company

Widely regarded as one of the funniest plays ever written, NOISES OFF takes audiences behind the curtain of a struggling theater troupe as everything that can go wrong does. As actors battle missed cues, slamming doors, misplaced props, and offstage romances, the line between performance and reality hilariously unravels in a whirlwind of perfectly timed chaos.

The cast, all of whom are making their Barrington Stage Company (BSC) debuts, includes Erin Davie as Belinda Blair, Abby Leigh Huffstetler as Poppy Norton-Taylor, Nehal Joshi as Garry Lejeune, Lesli Margherita as Dottie Otley, Orville Mendoza as Selsdon Mowbray, James Joseph O'Neil as Frederick Fellowes, Geoff Packard as Lloyd Dallas, Jennifer Sánchez as Brooke Ashton, and Evan Alexander Smith as Tim Allgood.  All are well suited to be part of this ensemble due to their skill and prowess with both timing and physical comedy.  While the cast members are uniformly strong in their individual roles and performances, it is hard not to make mention of Lesli Margherita’s efforts as being rather enjoyable.  Director Gordon Greenberg is also making his BSC directing debut.  The design team includes Sotirios Livaditis (Scenic Design), Todd Rosenthal (Co-Scenic Design), Izumi Inaba (Costume Design), Wheeler Moon (Lighting Design) and Connor Wang (Sound Design). Stage Manager is Anjee Nero. Assistant Stage Manager is Leslie Sears.

Playwright Michael Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of THE TWO OF US, a farce that he had written for Lynne Redgrave.  He said, "It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind." The prototype, a short-lived one-act play called EXITS, was written and performed in 1977. At the request of his associate, Frayn expanded this into what would become NOISES OFF.  It takes its title from the theatrical stage direction indicating sounds coming from offstage.

This is British humor so it’s dry and perhaps a bit bawdy for some – think Benny Hill.  Silliness abounds as is required for farce.  This can be both a blessing and a curse.  In this case, it was a bit of both for me personally.  Act one presents the show (“Nothing On”) within a show from the front of house side of things.  Act two gives us the chance to witness the antics, shenanigans, and goings-on, literally from behind the scenes, as the manor house set is rotated 180 degrees. Act Three depicts a performance near the end of a ten-week run. Relationships between the cast have soured considerably, the set is breaking down and props are winding up in the wrong hands, on the floor, and in the way. The actors remain determined at all costs to cover up the mounting chaos, but it is not long before the plot has to be abandoned entirely and the more coherent characters are obliged to take a lead in ad-libbing towards some sort of end.

Typically, I find farce to be over the top and for about 2/3 of the 2-hour and 20-minute (presented with one intermission) production, I found myself asking - why?  My analytical left brain kept asking, why are they doing that?   Making it hard to move on when the open questions reached a volume so as to become difficult to juggle.  Some might say that I have trouble with suspension of dis-belief.  Act three is where the pay-off as it were, comes about.  During a roughly 20-minute near silent stretch the cast execute a near flawless, complex, scene employing what director Gordon Greenberg refers to as “Controlled Chaos”.  The action plays out frenetically.  It becomes overwhelming and even the most `curmudgeonly (staring into a mirror) of audience members find themselves rolling along with the rest of the crowd.

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