'Noises off’ is one of the most consistently successful comedies ever written, having been regularly performed by both amateurs and professionals for the last four decades. This current touring version by Theatre Royal Bath in association with Birmingham Rep boasted a remarkable set and some famous faces, very much in the tradition of the English farce, fast-paced and with lots of stage action.
The play is a farce but it also parodies farce, featuring in spades the traditional elements of a Brian Rix-style Whitehall farce, a female running around in her underwear, men’s trousers’ falling down and doors constantly opening and closing. All three elements appear in ‘Noises Off’ virtually from start to finish, as opposed to most farces, where there is usually some element of build-up from a quiet start.
The premise of a play about a play, a sex-farce called ‘Nothing On’, gave writer Michael Frayn the opportunity to jump straight in with all the clichés. Much of the comedy comes from contrasting the cast's various foibles to the characters they are playing in ‘Nothing On’, rather concentrating on how they lose their clothes or end up in bed with eachother. Even the title of the play ‘Nothing On’ is an ‘in-yer-face’ dig at the typical ultimate subject matter of a great many '60s and '70s stage sex comedies.
Written in the early '80s, ‘Noises Off’ was perhaps trying to consign the English sex comedy to the past by ridiculing it as an outdated style, as comedy was starting a metamorphosis with new, alternative styles of humour. It is worth remembering that many '70’s TV comedies are either not shown today or require a ‘this might offend’ warning with many stage sex comedies now viewed as dated. ‘Noises off’ has no bed-hopping or illicit affairs and despite its outward appearance is certainly not a sex comedy. It also fails to have that other '70’s comedy stalwart, the ‘comedy gay’ and there is no mention of race at any point (another typical feature of the genre).
The other notable element of ‘Noises Off’ is that the set famously alternates from being the play as seen by the theatre audience and the rear of the set as viewed by the actors, back-stage. This naturally requires a sophisticated set and this production went a stage further by have two complete levels, front and rear, both featuring numerous doors and flights of steps. The actors were not just running in and out of doors but running up and down (or sometimes falling down!) the stairs. This was truly an excellent set, with much attention to detail, right down to a very ancient-looking dressing room door.
The ‘play’, ‘Nothing On’ was shown being performed on different stages of a national tour over three acts, not surprisingly going wrong in different ways on each occasion. However, anyone expecting anything like ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ by Mischief Theatre would be disappointed; there were no sets falling apart or any actors left clinging to a collapsing piece of staging. Almost all the comedy came from items misplaced, actors locked in rooms, making wrong entrances or just otherwise, generally making mistakes as the director became increasingly irate. There was a lot of running around the stage but the comedy was script-based for the most part. With almost no expletives, ‘Noises Off’ is in many ways quite a gentle comedy with no character completely reduced or savagely attacked.
The cast certainly worked hard, keeping a frenetic pace, requiring constant precise timing and a lot of physical exertion. The audience definitely appreciated their efforts, regularly laughing out loud.
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