![](https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NOISES-OFF-Felicity-Kendal-Dotty-Alexander-Hanson-Lloyd-Tracy-Ann-Oberman-Belinda-©-Nobby-Clark-2.jpg)
Show: Noises Off
Society: Richmond Theatre (professional)
Venue: Richmond Theatre. 1 Little Green, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1QH
Credits: By Michael Frayn. Produced by Theatre Royal Bath Productions
Type: Sardines
Performance Date: 04/10/2022
Noises Off
It’s funny, while it’s true that you can only see Noises Off for the first time once, when you almost fall off the chair with laughter – as the most obvious gags hit you full-on, on subsequent visits to Michael Frayn’s farcical masterpiece you really do begin to appreciate just how brilliantly crafted and written it is. In fact that’s the verdict of this latest production’s director, Lindsay Posner; ‘the most well-written comedy of all time’, he told me. He was there at Richmond Theatres last night but I failed to spot Michael Frayn. Well, he is eighty-eight now!
Noises Off, of course, provides the inspiration behind our magazine’s title. Thirty seconds in and you’ll realise that. Any production that’s on and we’re there – which is probably why I’ve seen it about eight times now, and been in it, and directed it… Anybody who’s been in the ‘funniest play ever written’ knows exactly why we’re called ‘Sardines’; and anybody who’s never seen Noises Off scratches their head!
Lindsay Posner also directed the Old Vic’s production in 2011. Eleven years later and it’s the play’s fortieth anniversary, so it’s all happenning again.
The evening has three acts. In the first we drop in on Otstar Productions still up at 1am teching their farce, Nothing On. Things are not going well and as the company staggers through Nothing On’s first act, not only does the audience learn how the act plays out, but we also get to learn a lot about the cast and creatives. Such as Nothing On’s director, Lloyd Dallas is having two love affairs at once: with Poppy the Stage Manager and Brooke from the cast. All hell breaks loose when both of Lloyd’s female lovers find out about their respective rival.
-
Felicity Kendal as Dotty Otley as Mrs Clackett! Photo: Nobby Clark
-
Felicity Kendal and Jonathan Coy with Joseph Millson. Photo: Nobby Clark
-
Felicity Kendal, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Matthew Kelly. Photo: Nobby Clark
The cast of nine are quite brilliant and we have interviewed Matthew Kelly (“tonight, Matthew…”) and the show’s director, Lindsay Posner, for our new issue which is right here. For Act II, the set has remarkably turned around 180° so, as an audience, we are now looking through the back of the set out at the fake audience. People (well, actors) are not talking to one another and Lloyd has popped back, incognito, to keep the peace with Brooke who is threatening to ‘walk’. Eventually things get going and the ‘silent act’ is quite hilarious, especially as it progresses. The actors walk through from backstage to deliver their lines to their audience… and remember, we recognise the abridged version’s words because we’ve all only just heard them. You should try rehearsing it! Mistaken identities and a lot of slapstick business goes on such as: an ever-decreasing beauquet of flowers, dropped contact lenses, shoelaces and bedsheets being tied together, a fireaxe, cactus and Selsdon Mowbray constantly creeping off to knock back a bottle of whiskey he’s found. By the time we get to act three, and the set has once again returned to its original position, everything has descended into complete anarchy and different people are blatently sabotaging their colloeagues’ performances onstage, as they’ve lost any care and respect they previously had for one another. A few people employ the old ‘show must go on’ motto… until they fall down the stairs that is.
It appears that all the characters have their odd little quirks and traits and all are used to maximum effect which is a positive note for the director’s vision. Matthew Kelly (playing Selsdon) brilliantly underplays his character as Selsdon looks for another swig of booze. Losing his trousers as he steps onstage is very, very funny. Tracy-Ann Oberman (as Belinda) excells at being the ‘mumsy’ organisor while remaining a complete lovie. Felicity Kendal (as Dotty Otley) just cannot catch a break to eat her plate of Sardines. Dotty has put all the money into the show and, somehow, is having an affair with Garry, who might be half her age. Lloyd the company’s director (Alexender Hanson) does his best (and fails) to keep his two girls happy while being in charge of the show. Joseph Millson (as Garry) tries to keep the show on the road despite Brooke unable to think on her feet… at all. Instead she keeps going quoting the original script no matter what is going on around her. Jonathan Coy (as Frederick Fellowes again, he played the same role in 2011) has to sit down at the briefest sight of blood and lacks a spine of any sort. Sasha Frost (as Brooke) is the sexy one in her underwear and the most inexperienced actor, which shows. Her contact lenses have minds of their own, always falling out at the most inopportune moment. Poppy (Pepter Lunkuse) is the put-upon stage manager who tells Lloyd at the end of Act II that they’re going to hve a baby and, lastly, Tim (Hubert Burton) is the general dogsbody who does everything (probably), including buying smaller and smaller (as Lloyd’s money runs out) bunches of flowers for Brooke (from Lloyd) in Act II. It seems everybody, except Brooke, thinks he has bought them for themselves.
I realise I’ve probably confused you over the previous couple of paragraphs but I’m so enthusiastic for this play that I probably gush a little. Sorry. Please accept my apologies.
Suffice to say that this new production is excellent, surpassing 2011’s production and almost equaling Sedos’s brilliant show of the same name in 2015.