REVIEW: 'Noises Off' from Circle Players

Here's a topic for discussion, all you members of the theatre glitterati: How do the two smallest roles in a stage comedy become star-making vehicles? I'm guessing that the secret lies in casting two exceptionally talented actors in said roles--and that's exactly the case in Circle Players' latest offering, Noises Off, now onstage at Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theatre.

The inspired lunacy of Michael Frayn's Noises Off is a good choice for any theatre company seeking to offer a glimpse into the wacky antics of life on the boards and Circle Players continues its 60^th annual season with a largely successful production that features the aforementioned stellar performances of Maggie Pitt and Jeremy Maxwell in the roles of Poppy and Tim (the techies in Frayn's show-within-a-show structure). Pitt and Maxwell deliver disarmingly natural performances amid all the hilarious hijinks taking place in Frayn's wonderfully funny farce and they very nearly--actually, they do it outright--steal the show.

Nominally, the "star" of the show is considered to be the actress playing Dotty Otley, the doyenne of British theatre, who's slumming in the tour of Nothing On to pad her bankroll. Carol Griffin, who plays Dotty in Circle's production, certainly gives a fine performance but it's not a star turn. Rather, she blends into the ensemble too easily when she should be demanding the spotlight.

There is, however, a school of thought that suggests that the star of the play is Lloyd Dallas, the Shakespearean director who's staging a show he considers beneath his station, also in hopes of making some dough. It's a cleverly written role, slightly over-the-top, and Alan Lee gives a spot-on performance (perhaps skewering some of the directors he's worked with in his own distinguished theatrical career), but he, too, fails to claim the star for his dressing room door.

So what gives? I'm guessing that director Patrick Kramer is the one to blame-or to whom credit is owed-for this turn of events. Perhaps in his efforts to direct the ensemble as, well, "an ensemble" he wanted everyone to be on the same team, with no stars. But Noises Off is a show that demands a star, if it is truly to be an accurate depiction of a life in the theatre. And while Circle's production is a pleasant diversion, sometimes hilariously so, it lacks the necessary punch that would have sent it as far over the top as Frayn's script promises.

Clearly, Kramer does a fine job directing the onstage action at a good pace and there's a great deal of door slamming, mistaken identities and near-misses that exemplify truly entertaining farce. On opening night, however, the energy in Act One seemed much lower than expected, although the cast rebounded to make Act Two an absolute delight (the backstage antics of Nothing On are always spectacularly wacky and who doesn't love a glimpse at the backstage brouhaha that transpires?) and the third stanza continued at that same harried pace. Here's a suggestion, though: two fifteen-minute intermissions seemed too long; two ten-minute intermissions would work better and keep the audience more engaged.

Kramer has assembled a fine cast for his production and they are very ably supported by Jim Manning's superb set design. In addition to Maxwell, Pitt, Griffin and Lee (which sounds like a law firm), the cast includes Aaron Echols as the handsome leading man Garry LeJeune, Brittany Byrd as the ditzy sexpot Brooke Ashton, Joe Shepherd as the bumbling Frederick, Kelley Mitchell as his sensible wife Belinda, and Joe Brennan as the tipsy Selsdon Mowbray.

Echols gives a terrific, physically adept performance (in retrospect, he seems to be the star of the show) that grows in its comic intensity, while Byrd is lovely and has a couple of terrific pratfalls that show off her flair for physical comedy. Shepherd and Mitchell are well-matched as a married couple trying to fend off agents from Inland Revenue, and Brennan's take on Selsdon is among the best I've seen, never once taking the easy way out to portray his character.

 --Noises Off. By Michael Frayn. Directed by Patrick Kramer. Produced by Johnny Peppers. Presented by Circle Players at the Z. Alexander Looby Theatre, 2301 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard, Nashville. Through November 1. For further details, visit the company's website at www.circleplayers.net.

photo of the 'Noises Off' cast by Hatcher & Fell Photography/Nashville

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