Archives - Noises Off

by Michael Frayn

Directed by Keith Thompson

Friday 19th – Saturday 27th February 2010 in the Auditorium

This famous farce tracks the progress into disaster of a rather bad play, seen both onstage and backstage.

Michael Frayn’s play never misses a trick. Its first act is a pastiche of traditional farce; the second, a variant on it; the third, an elaborate undermining of it. A touring company rehearse Nothing On, a conventional farce.

Mixing mockery and homage, Frayn heaps into this play-within-a-play characters and situations in a hilarious mêlée. We see the onstage farce and also revealed is the farce behind the scenes in the astonishingly ingenious middle act. Cheery char, outraged wife and squeaky blonde — voices rise and trousers fall.

Free-of-charge pre- and post-show talks now feature at the Barn on the following nights:

• Monday 22^nd at 7.30pm in the bar — Keith Thompson explains why Frayn’s play works so well on stage.
• Tuesday 23^rd at 7.30pm in the bar — Dr. Cindy Lawford talks about Frayn and his very English farce.
• Wednesday 24^th after the show — The audience’s opportunity to ask the cast and creative team about the play.