The other night I LMAO'd at the Las Vegas Academy Theatre's production of
Noises Off...which runs through Saturday, May 3, (7pm).
Noises Off is a 1982 play by Michael Frayn. When Frayn was watching from the wings of a performance years ago of his play,
The Two of Us
he realized it was funnier from behind than in front, and decided to
write a play from that perspective. First came the short-lived one-act
play called
Exits, which was written and performed in 1977. Frayn then expanded it into what would become
Noises Off after the suggestion was made by his associate Michael Codron....
Noises Off takes its title from the theatrical stage direction indicating sounds coming from offstage.
This
is one of the few well known plays I have never seen before, so I
watched the performance with no previous examples of which to compare.
In the show, all three acts you are watching are actually Act One of the
play within the play, which is called
Nothing's On.
Very
quickly into the first act this is established when the "director"
shouts to one of the actresses on stage from a second row seat. Sam
Goldstein as Director, Lloyd Dallas was commanding but also
communicating an exasperated impatience with his cast and their habit of
fielding their last minute blocking and character suggestions. Casey
Andrews as Garry/Roger seems to be so much into character that he
actually blushes for real several times throughout the play! It is also
obvious to the audience that he would have no idea what to do with a
woman like Brooke/Vicki should he ever actually get her alone. Ireland
Ciechalski is delightfully funny as Brooke Ashton/Vicki, Ireland had the
complex task of being beautiful and funny, and pulled it off with
aplomb! Keaton Johns as Selsdom Mowbray/Burglar has the "I have no idea
I am so clueless" character, to a "T". He's so likeable everyone just
wants to help him not belittle him and we have all known people like
that. Tessa Lepore as Poppy the stagehand exudes an inner frustration
that she is not one of the cast but relegated to stage hand, which is
truly fine acting because Tessa is a character in the cast of the play,
but her character isn't. Abby Dandy as Dotty/Mrs. Clackett carries off
the tired but capable characters she inhabits. Especially evident in Act
Two she manages to keep her physical character moving at the pace a
middle aged frump would while trying to keep up in a situation where
speed is needed for so much action. Taylor Paulson as Belinda/Flavia and
Julian Dietrich as Frederick/Philip remained the comedic offset as
"straight men" to everyone around them, at least in
Nothing's On...even
as Frederick (as Philip) is temporarily replaced for about a minute in
Act Three by Tim Allgood (Hunter Schwartz). Hunter is hilarious as set
up for Act Three as he attempts to introduce the play and explain the
late beginning without "losing it".....the audience can relate to it
because we have all been in his shoes in one way or another. There is a
fine line between scary mad and funny and Hunter walks it well.
Farce is fun. Farce is silly. Farce is outrageous.
Don't try to make sens of it just go with it!
- Holly Morris, Director
After
setting up who everyone is and what the play within the play is about
in Act One, intermission begins. Unbeknownst to those of us who leave
the theatre, the on stage set is turned around so we are watching Act
Two from behind the stage, which is actually Act One again of
Nothing's On.
This gives us a unique perspective into what goes on just beyond what
the audience can see! I know from my own experience this is truly
unbelievable at times. (This act should be mandatory for all actors in
theatrical programs, even if they just do this one act in class. This is
because the importance of comedic timing, blocking and teamwork is
emphasized and one really does see how every character is keeping the
ship afloat, so to speak.)
In Act Three, which is again
Act One of the play within the play, it is now ten weeks later later
and the cast is showing signs of coming apart at the seams in a play
filled with props, prat falls, doors, windows, and sardines! The
exasperation of the actors which they are trying to hide while playing
their characters is carried off with the dimension and humor I believe
the writer intended.
While watching clips of this play
on YouTube while preparing to see and write about the it I saw many
versions. Most of them worked very well. However when they didn't, it
was because the timing was too slow and/or the actors couldn't pull off
the characters within the characters and in that missed the
opportunities for the comedic moments. However, the Las Vegas Academy
Theatre cast and crew did all of this and more, with FLAIR!
Did you know?...
Noises Off
premiered at the Lync Theatre, Hammersmith, London in 1982. The
Broadway debut, which started in 1983 ran for 553 performances. What is
unusual about this play is that Michael Frayn has continually rewritten
and updated it, the most recent in 2000. There are numerous differences
between the 1982 and 2000 scripts.
There was a film version on Noises Off in 1992 directed by Peter Bogdanovich starring Carol Burnett, Michale Caine, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Marilu Henner and Nicollette Sheridan.
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| Tessa Lepore (Poppy) & Anna Wendt, Blogger, April 26th, 2014. |
Cast and Crew of "Noises Off"
Lloyd Dallas...............................Sam Goldstein
Dotty Otley.................................Abby Dandy
Gary Lejuene.............................Casey Andrews
Brooke Ashton...........................Ireland Ciechalski
Frederick (Freddy) Fellowes.....Julian Dietrich
Belinda Blair............................ Taylor Paulson
Poppy Norton-Taylor.................Tessa Lepore
Selsdon Mowbray......................Keaton Johns
Timothy Allgood.........................Hunter Schwartz
Cast of Nothing's On (Play within the play)
Mrs. Clackett.............................Abby Dandy
Roger........................................Casey Andrews
Vicki..........................................Ireland Ciechalski
Philip.........................................Julian Dietrich
Flavia........................................Taylor Paulson
Burglar.......................................Keaton Johns
Sheikh.......................................Julian Dietrich
Philip for 30 seconds................Hunter Schwartz
Director......................................Holly Morris
Producer/Shop Guru.................John Morris
Technical Director..................... Patrick Weaver
Set & Lighting Designer............Marcus Ingerson
Costume Supervisor.................Katina McAmis
Sound Supervisor.....................Eric McFall
Scene Shop Manager...............Jeff Berman
Props Supervisor.......................Patrick Weaver
Program/Box Office Supervisor......Jill C. Sosniak
Front of House Supervisor.........Melissa Lilly
Concessions Supervisor............Megan Ahern
Stage Manager..........................Keegan Keith
Asst. Stage Managers...............Courtney Kraemer
Student Director........................Victoria Church
Asst. Student Director...............Sydney Mayers
Dramaturg.................................Elizabeth Hunt
Student Technical Director........Tiffany Cannon
Master Carpenter......................Samantha Leigh
Scene Shop Steward................Bailey Saxe
Set
Crew...................................Jonathan Anderson, Brenda
Carrillo, Raphael Daniels, Aaron Fuentes, Tyler Greco, Amanda Ojeda,
Deanna Quintana, Ethan Samuels, Justin Winslow
Master Electrician.....................George Mullenix
Deck Electrician........................Emily Sheehy
Lighting
Crew............................Alexus Aja-Clemons, Fantasia Beam,
Paulynn Esteban, Kylee Leora, Ashley Molnar, Georgina Manrique, Jinger
Siu,
Student Sound Designer...........Brian Davis
Engineer....................................Hannah Werle
Asst. Engineer...........................Kaliah Silva
Sound Effects............................Tyler Draher
Lead Wireless............................Maria Flores
Asst. Wireless............................Theresa Ramos
Properties Master......................Sarah Dey
Asst. Prop Master......................Corryn Tomlinson
Props Crew................................Tayler Anderson, Taylor Booth, Megan Cannon, Gina Deutscher, Rachel Tozzi
Student Costume Designer.........Zoe Fendrick
Costume Crew Head...................Nicole Lynn Heath
Costume Shop Manager.............Megan Thompson
Crew............................................Vanessa
Dickey, Lara Huckbolt, Alexander Kostan, Ana Quinones, Tatum Rajsky,
Tyler Shackerford
Dressers......................................Mufasa Benson, Zoe Fendrick
Hair & Make up Crew Head.........Noelle Bailey
Hair & Make up Crew...................Aviona Barrientos, Joanna Farias, Angelina Le, Ana Quinones
Box Office Managers...................Sean Coulter & Luis Delgado
House Manager...........................Samantha Brounstein
Academy Theatre Family Network
Coordinator................................Sonja Finley-Tratos
Volunteers..................................Beth Dandy, Rebecca Davis, Steven Garnett, Carole Lepore
Sources:
lvacademytheatre.org
wikipedia.org
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