Synopsis
Noises Off
Published by Samuel French
5 Male 4 Female
Called the "funniest farce ever written" (NY Post), Noises Off depicts the onstage and backstage antics of a fifth-rate acting troupe touring in a dire sex farce - Nothing On
Act One shows the dress rehearsal of this play-within-a-play the night before it opens and things are not going well
In the Second Act we hear the first act of Nothing On from backstage, after it's been running a month
The Third Act takes us back to the first act of Nothing On, this time after two months of touring
Doors slamming, on and offstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious and classically comic play
Mixing mockery and homage, Frayn heaps into this play-within-a-play a hilarious melée of stock characters and situations
REVIEWS
"As side splitting a farce as I have seen. Ever? Ever" ~ N.Y. Magazine
"Bumper car brilliance ... If laughter is indeed the best medicine, Noises Off is worth its weight in Cipro" ~ N.Y. Daily News
"The most dexterously realized comedy ever about putting on a comedy ... A spectacularly funny ... peerless backstage farce.... [This] dizzy, well known romp ... [is a] festival of delirium .... On every side are theatergoers barking, howling, hooting ... floating in the upper altitudes of comedy ... There are moments when everyone onstage and in the audience seems to be riding the same runaway roller coaster" ~ N.Y. Times
"The funniest farce ever written .... Never before has side splitting taken on a meaning dangerously close to the non metaphorically medical .... A veritable celebration of truly awful theatre, a backstage explanation of how things got that way, and a magnificent coda of how they just got worse. The bad has never had it so good!" ~ N.Y. Post