Noises Off

Michael Frayn's successful and well-known farce has been around a long time and since its first performance in the UK in 1982, where it ran for five years, there have been numerous revivals worldwide, even a movie version, directed by Peter Bogdanovitch and including an all-star international cast.

What is unique about this play-within-a-play is the hilarious set of antics that take place behind the scenes whilst the show is performing out front, inspired by the playwright's own experiences; and with the second act being, in fact, a view of the play 'inside-out', as it were. In the third act it also includes a later performance fraught with comic disaster whilst the show is on tour. The whole concept is indeed clever and intriguing with the author pulling out just about every stop a stage farce requires to reduce its audience to more than a titter or two.

CTG director and veteran William McCreery-Rye has been wanting to stage the show for ages though he says he was concerned about the limitations of the theatre group's stage and staging requirements in comparison with other productions he has viewed over the years. Community theatre is often about budget and indeed space did create some issues for the cast: it is, after all, a very physical show, particularly in the second act.  Also, stage farce is all also about timing, facial expressions, pregnant pauses and the like and this is where the production needs a little more tweaking. Comedy is not always easy to pull off, often being a case of not what is said but how, looking at, for example, the use of the old adage 'silence is golden', amongst others. Jack Benny and Carol Burnett, to illustrate, are two of many great exponents of this intricate art-form.

However, the enthusiastic cast of nine were able to adapt to the environment well and present the show with plenty of animation and rapport. To name a few, experienced thespian of the stageboards Samantha O'Hare's Belinda Blair/Flavia portrayal is infectious and entertaining, Artemisia Allan, Kip Jeffree and Eleni Koutsoukis are all well cast, whilst Bob Polowyj's Selsdon Mowbray/Burglar portrayal captures the flavour of the seasoned Brit actor, being well in character and timing his dialogue well.

Though opening night is often more frenetic, also exemplified in the script too of course (!), with a little more breath and nuance this production will soon settle in. Centenary Theatre Group's long list of previous productions, notably of famous plays, is particularly of merit providing a welcome opportunity to view shows locally rather than having to travel long distances. This production is no exception and worth a visit to view one of the classic hits of British farce.

Brian Adamson