“Noises Off,” the critically acclaimed play written in 1982 by playwright Michael Frayn, comes to the Valborg Theatre Wednesday and runs through Sunday.
The comedy is based on the rehearsal and production of the characters’ attempt to put on the play “Nothing On,” allowing the audience to see behind the scenes of a production, according to pas.appstate.edu.
“The audience feeds on the live actors and the actors feed on the laughter – the response of the audience,” said Joel Williams, director of the play. “If you go the next night and there’s a full house, you’re going to see exactly the same thing, but I guarantee if you have a full house that’s laughing, there’s going to be an energy on stage that is very different than if we have three people in the audience that are barely laughing.”
With so many constantly moving props and jumbled cues, there is always the possibility of a mix-up or disaster on stage, but the cast is confident in their abilities.
“Getting to the point that we’re at right now has been a difficult challenge,” said Jack Lafferty, a senior recreation management major and actor in the play said. “But we got here through a lot of slips, bumps, falls and a little bit of struggle along the way, but it’s really paid off, and I think we’ve ended up with a great play that’s well worth watching.”
Lafferty plays the role of Frederick Fellows, a timid young man who faints at the sight of his own nosebleeds.
Senior theatre education major Hintz plays the dual roles of Dotty Otley, an older, forgetful actress, as well as her role of Mrs. Clackett, the bumbling housekeeper in the play-within-the-play.
“I think I was typecast,” she said, “Because my character can’t remember sardines or newspapers… but I can’t either. I kind of want to write it on my hands.”
Morgan Stewart, a senior English major, plays the role of the cantankerous old man Selsdon Mowbray. Stewart has experience portraying elderly people.
“It’s the fourth time I’ve done it,” he said. “It’s fun. I get to play a drunk, so I can literally do whatever I want. You feel like you might be limited, but that just adds another comedic layer to it.”
When the play first debuted in 1982, it was met with high acclaim and rave reviews, as well as an Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy. However, the 1992 movie adaptation directed by Marty Kaplan had a less than stellar reception.
“It’s a play that’s full of inside jokes about the theatre,” Williams said. “If you make a play about the theatre into a movie about the theatre, it’s going to lose something.”
Other opinions of the movie were somewhat less charitable.
“That movie was terrible,” senior theatre education major Madeline Hintz said. “Just in general, it wasn’t a well done movie.”
As for the play itself, most of the cast and crew think that the medium itself is the biggest factor in regards to the play’s success.
“It really allows you to delve into the world of theatre and see the parts like the backstage which you don’t get to see normally,” Lafferty said. “It allows you to be in the moment and be alive with it, which when you put that in a movie, it just doesn’t quite work. Really being able to see it happen, you get to see the innards of what a play consists of, which makes it a lot better.”
“Noises Off” runs at 7:30 p.m. every time except for the Sunday show, which runs at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for faculty and $8 for students and children.
Story: R. SCOTT MORRIS, Senior A&E Reporter
Photo: MAGGIE COZENS, Photo Editor