NEWS: Pitlochry Festival Theatre celebrate the 40th anniversary of 'Noises Off' this Summer.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre celebrates the 40^th Anniversary of

Noises Off

By Michael Frayn

Directed by Ben Occhipinti

Designed by Liz Cooke

Lighting Design by Peter Fennell

Sound Design by Kevin Murray

Fight directed by Robin Hellier

Cast: Marc Small (Lloyd Dallas); Connor Going (Garry LeJeune); Rachael McAllister (Brooke Ashton); Keith Jack (Frederick Fellowes); Deirdre Davis (Dotty Otley); Keith Macpherson (Selsdon Mowbray); Meg Chaplin (Poppy Norton-Taylor); Richard Colvin (Tim Allgood) and Alyson Orr (Belinda Blair).

 

Dates: May 27 – 1 October, Pitlochry Festival

Press performances: Fri 3 June at 8pm and Sat 4 June at 2pm & 8pm

Auditorium, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

 

Pitlochry Festival Theatre to celebrate 40^th anniversary of the classic farce Noises Off - what could possibly go wrong?

 

Get ready for a riotous night out this summer as Pitlochry Festival Theatre celebrates the 40^th anniversary of Michael Frayn’s irresistible farce within a farce from 27 May-1 October.

 

Hailed as a celebrated modern classic, Noises Off chronicles the hilarious slapstick capers of a touring theatre company as they stumble their way, from rehearsals to opening night, through a farcical fictitious play called…Nothing On.  

 

With technical brilliance and split-second timing, Noises Off takes us behind the scenes with a company of actors, stage manager and a temperamental director in a hilarious and heartfelt tribute to the unpredictability of life in theatre.

 

Noises Off was previously performed at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 1987 and 2010.

 

Playwright Michael Frayn said:

“Wonderful to see theatre gradually coming back to life after Covid.  And for me, the Pitlochry Festival is a particularly cheering milestone along the road to normality because they’re doing the first professional UK post-Covid production of Noises Off.  So, thank you, Pitlochry!  I send you my very best wishes for the production, and I hope it helps to spread a little cheerfulness around.”

 

Noises Off’s exciting cast will feature Marc Small (Barefoot in the Park, Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Connor Going (Wind in the Willows, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and The Choir of Man, Australia and USA tour); Rachael McAllister (A Christmas Carol, Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Keith Jack (Any Dream Will Do, BBC; Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Fame, UK Tours); Deirdre Davis (Eileen Donachie in River City, BBC Scotland, Bold Girls, Citizens Theatre and Monarch of the Glen, Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Keith Macpherson (The Yellow Door, Lyceum/ Edinburgh International Book Festival; Waiting for Godot, Citizens Theatre and Stan and Ollie, BBC Films); Meg Chaplin (Arrival, imPOSSIBLE and The Midnight Child, UK Tour); Richard Colvin (Sunshine on Leith, UK Tour and A Christmas Carol, Bolton Octagon) and Alyson Orr (Cinderella, Pavilion Theatre Glasgow).

 

Noises Off is directed by Ben Occhipinti with set and costume design by Liz Cooke, lighting design by Peter Fennell and sound design by Kevin Murray.

 

Director and Pitlochry Festival Theatre Associate Director Ben Occhipinti said:

 

“It is a great privilege to be directing Michael Frayn’s Noises Off in its 40^th anniversary year. It probably goes without saying that this play is one of the greatest farce’s ever written and I am in no doubt that audiences will enjoy watching and laughing together this summer. Michael Frayn is such an exceptional dramatist that he’s been able to create such a brilliant story with many loveable characters whilst also making us belly laugh. With a brilliant company of actors, it is sure to bring the house down as they try to manage all the doors and sardines! The design is wondrous, so I also know audiences will love to enjoy the mise-en-scène which Noises Off has become infamous for over the years.”

 

The idea for Noises Off came to playwright Michael Frayn after watching from the wings a production of his 1970 farce The Two of Us with Richard Briers and Lynn Redgrave at the Garrick Theatre. He noted that seeing the actors dashing between the different doors backstage was all far funnier from behind than it was out front.

 

Frayn didn’t get around to working on anything until 1977, when he wrote a 15-minute version for a charity event. At the request of his associate, Michael Cordon, Frayn expanded this into what would become Noises Off.

 

The original production directed by Michael Blakemore opened to great acclaim at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in 1982 starring Patricia Routledge and Paul Eddington and went on to transfer to the Savoy Theatre where it won Best Comedy of the Year at the Olivier Awards. The iconic play has been performed worldwide and was made into a film in 1992 starring Michael Caine.

 

Noises Off runs from 27 May - 1 October. Tickets are available from the Box office on 01796 484626 or online at pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com