by Barbara Waldinger
Of the many forms of comedy, farce can be the most difficult to design, direct and perform. Although it has existed since ancient Greece and Rome, farce is often considered the lowest form of humor, because of the improbability of its plot and its dependence on physical comedy or “slapstick.” In an interview in the program, Gordon Greenberg, the brave and talented director of Barrington Stage Company’s current production of Noises Off by Michael Frayn, refers to the play as “a mountain to scale. . . one of the most challenging plays to stage. . .a marathon of a show. . .requires real discipline, almost like a ballet. I call it controlled chaos.”
Popularized by professional Italian companies –the “commedia dell’arte”– that toured Europe from the sixteenth through the early eighteenth centuries, farce became known for several characteristics including stock characters (easily recognized by particular masks and costumes—the lovers, clever servants, lascivious old men), and “lazzi,” or comic routines inserted into the action of the plot. Although these plays were improvised at first, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were written down (by Gozzi and Goldoni in Italy and Georges Feydeau in France). Beginning in the twentieth century, Hollywood produced its own farces starring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, the Keystone Cops, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, and the Marx Brothers.
Today’s audiences seem to be split between those who love to laugh at the silliness of farce and those who avoid it because they find it too ridiculous to appreciate. But by dismissing this genre, they miss the complexities and intricately staged and timed ensemble work required by a good farce. Michael Frayn, the brilliant English playwright whose play Copenhagen won a slew of awards in the UK and the U.S., lifts Noises Off to a different and more outrageous level: it is a farce within a farce. The play consists of a group of incompetent actors rehearsing and then performing a sex farce called Nothing On. Puns and wordplay proliferate in Frayn’s work: noises off refers to the offstage sounds heard during a play, demonstrated to the detriment of Nothing On in the second act of Noises Off; and nothing on, besides the obvious meaning, refers to the fact that there’s no show being performed in the theatre.
Because each actor is in both plays, Frayn writes two cast lists and two sets of bios. For example, the name of the fictional caretaker of the country home where Nothing On takes place is Dotty Otley. Frayn has invented a comic bio for her, in addition to the real bio for Patricia Routledge, who plays Dotty in the 1982 London production of Noises Off.
We never see more than one act of Nothing On: in the first act of Noises Off, director Lloyd Dallas, flawlessly portrayed by Geoff Packard, cannot manage to herd his inept actors through a complete rehearsal of the play before the next day’s opening. The huge and marvelous set of Noises Off, designed by Sotirios Livaditis and Todd Rosenthal, revolves in plain sight to reveal the backstage area in the second act, a month into their tour, where the actors are silently (with some exceptions) at war as the unseen play goes on upstage. Each page of the script is split in half to show the onstage lines we hear and the backstage movement we see: jealous actors trying to maim or destroy each other. The revolve returns to the onstage performance in the third act, the final stop of their disastrous tour, revealing a completely different script as every aspect of Nothing On falls apart. What a formidable challenge for actors and crew!
Accompanying the transitions is lively1960s music (provided by sound designer Connor Wang). The neon colors of the women’s costumes (by Izumi Inaba and Associate Megan E. Pirtle), and the fabulous pink/ hot pink creation for Brooke immediately announce that this is going to be a wild ride.
The uniformly excellent comic cast reaches for the moon in their quest for laughs, which is sometimes frightening to see. Director Greenberg emphasizes the need for safety, self-care, and stamina on the part of the cast. Thanks to Greenberg and fight choreographer Jacob Grigolio-Rosenbaum, the actors seem to be unscathed when they take their bows.
There is a1992 American film inspired by Noises Off, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, with Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, John Ritter, Christopher Reeve, Denholm Elliott, Julie Hagerty, Marilu Henner and Mark-Linn Baker. We don’t have the same fear for the safety of the actors on film since it is not live, but also because the pacing of the actors may not have been at the same breakneck speed as Barrington’s version, and the over-the-top acting may have been more toned down, especially in the early scenes, to make room for a build as the action progresses.
Barrington’s intrepid cast includes: Lesli Margherita’s Dotty, who is all legs as she manages pratfalls, splits, the inability to remember her lines in Nothing On, the whereabouts of plates of sardines or newspapers, and her plans for revenge against unfaithful men. The object of her revenge is Garry (Nehal Joshi), who has found a sexy young mistress—Brooke (Jennifer Sanchez) with whom he hopes to spend some quality time in what he thinks is an empty house. The repeated choreographed comic movements between Garry and Brooke is commedia at its most typical. Brooke is all gestures– dramatic Delsarte poses—that supposedly express her emotions. She is incapable of improvising, even when her lines refer to events that are not happening, or objects that have disappeared, while Garry, with his wide -eyed freeze, tries to improvise nearly the entire final performance of Nothing On.
James Joseph O’Neil’s Frederick is a parody of every actor who has ever asked for his motivation. Despite the fact that he keeps apologizing for his stupidity in not knowing the answer, he is right that the plot makes absolutely no sense, which Packard (as director Dallas) twists himself into knots trying to justify. Frederick’s wife, played by Erin Davie, manages to orchestrate the end of their final performance when no one else can figure out what to do, while Evan Alexander Smith’s overworked Tim the “Allgood”–stage manager for Nothing On, running onto the stage from a theatre aisle, is responsible for fixing everything that breaks, in addition to filling in with characters who don’t show up for their entrances. Abby Leigh Huffstetler’s Poppy, Tim’s assistant stage manager, is the prompter, plays any incapacitated women, and tries to announce the start of a play that can’t seem to begin. Finally, Orville Mendoza portrays Selsden Mowbray: an old, deaf, alcoholic actor, causing agonizing problems for the cast and director, who have no idea whether he’ll make an entrance or when.
Kudos to Barrington Stage Company, director Gordon Greenberg, and the designers of Noises Off for attempting to climb this “Mount Kilimanjaro” of farces during a busy Berkshire summer with a tight performance schedule.
NOISES OFF runs from August 20—September 6 (though the opening was delayed until August 26) at Barrington Stage Company’s Boyd-Quinson Theater, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. For tickets call 413-242-6411 or online at barringtonstageco.org.
Barrington Stage Company presents NOISES OFF by Michael Frayn. Directed by Gordon Greenberg.
Cast: Erin Davie (Belinda Blair), Abby Leigh Huffstetler (Poppy Norton-Taylor), Nehal Joshi (Garry Lejeune), Lesli Margherita (Dotty Otley), Orville Mendoza (Selsden Mowbray), James Joseph O’Neil (Frederick Fellowes), Geoff Packard (Lloyd Dallas), Jennifer Sanchez (Brooke Ashton), Evan Alexander Smith (Tim Allgood).
Scenic Co-Designers: Sotirios Livaditis and Todd Rosenthal; Costume Designer: Izumi Inaba; Associate Costume Designer: Megan E. Pirtle; Lighting Designer: Wheeler Moon; Associate Lighting Designer: Aidan English; Sound Designer: Connor Wang; Fight Choreographer: Jacob Grigolio-Rosenbaum; Associate Director and Production Stage Manager: Anjee Nero.
The production runs two hours twenty minutes with one intermission.