Play within a play becomes a farce full of fun

By BARBARA FREDRICKSEN, Arts and Entertainment
Published September 8, 2007

If you're looking for a restful evening at the theater, don't look to Noises Off, the frantically panicky farce playing weekends through Sept. 23 at Stage West Community Playhouse.

At play's end, you'll just be grateful that one of the actors didn't catapult into the audience and do serious injury to one and all.

And you also might be feeling a little guilty for laughing so hard at the zany, but dangerously risky, antics those actors just performed.

That's what playwright Michael Frayn had in mind when he wrote Noises Off, a play within a play that only slightly exaggerates the chaos that sometimes goes on behind the scenes of a theatrical production. Director Dan Brijbag's cast and crew pull it off with delightfully organized and exhausting chaos.

To be frank, though, because of all the action, the play can be a tad confusing, and the yellow-gold program-inside-the-program just adds to the puzzlement.

As the play starts, Noises Off looks like the usual British sex farce, with lots of rushing around and slamming in and out of doors on the remarkably sturdy three-tiered set. When a voice booms out from a seat in the audience, though, it dawns on us that we're actually watching the final dress rehearsal of a play called Nothing On that is about to go on the road.

The play is set to open in just six hours, but the actors in the goofy and illogical Nothing On are totally unsure of their lines and movements. Their director, Lloyd Dallas (played with animated exasperation by George Dwyer) is trying to get everyone ready so that he can leave and direct his next show, which happens to be Shakespeare's Richard III.

Lloyd is also juggling girlfriends, namely a gorgeous, leggy blond, Brooke Ashton (played by a gorgeous, leggy and blond Leslee Starz), who is the lead in Nothing On, and the shy and hard-working Nothing On stage manager, Poppy Norton (done mousy-sweet by Toni Berlinger).

Meanwhile, poor Frederick Fellowes (a riotous W. Paul Wade), a supporting actor in Nothing On, is nursing a broken heart and is being comforted by former soap opera star Dotty Otley (done with world weariness by Karen Doxey), who's playing the lowly housemaid in Nothing On. Dotty is beloved by Garry Lejeune (done with reckless abandon by Gary McCarragher), who plays the male lead in Nothing On and is furious about Frederick and Dotty's relationship.

Then there's the dipsomaniac Selsdon Mowbray, (Ken Murrin, who does a drunken ol' toot better than anyone else), wandering on and off the Nothing On set at will, and stage hand Tim Allgood (Jeff German, himself a fine physical comic).

Once you get those characters straight - think of Act 1 as the setup for a long joke - Act 2, which shows the backstage bickering and battling during a mid-tour performance, and Act 3, which is the final show on the road, are a hilarious payoff.

Credit for all this working as well as it does goes to dedicated performers and deft direction. Though the chaos and confusion are skillfully staged, nothing ever looks choreographed or contrived.

To be sure, all of the cast members put themselves at physical risk in this hectic comedy, but special praise should go to McCarragher, who throws himself with all his might into slam-bang physical feats that take pure lionhearted courage.

By the way, arrive early and read the bios in the nonsensical program for Nothing On - that's the yellow-gold brochure tucked inside the white program for Noises Off. It's a hoot.

FAST FACTS

It's showtime

Noises Off, weekends at Stage West Community Playhouse through Sept. 23. The theater is at 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill. Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $18. The box office is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and an hour before each show. Call (352) 683-5113.

[Last modified September 7, 2007, 20:52:43]