Quiet, Backstage!
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By Paul Johnson
The seeds of Noises Off were sown when its author, Michael Frayn, was backstage watching his inaugural play: “The first show I ever wrote was called The Two of Us, which consisted of four short plays - produced originally at the Garrick Theatre with Richard Briars and Lynn Redgrave.”
The quartet of Michael’s plays were all performed by just two actors, the last of which, was Chinaman, a farce with five characters which the two performers had to play between them.
“I watched it backstage one night,” remembers the playwright. “The sight of people running insanely from door to door backstage, doing quick changes as they went, while the stage manager put an arm on the first door to make it look as if the character was still there, seemed to me funnier than what was going on round the front. So I thought I would write a farce seen from behind.”
The rest is, of course, history!
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