Chaotic Comedy
The Spokane Civic Theatre’s press material refers to Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off,” which opens Friday, as “the funniest farce ever written.”
As unlikely as that may sound, it’s not a total exaggeration.
The first professional production I saw of this 1986 British comedy was, in fact, the funniest farce I have ever seen. It was an utter whirlwind of slamming doors, drunken shenanigans and hysterical chaos.
So, yeah, it can be the funniest farce ever written.
However, let me put expectations into perspective. The subsequent three times I have seen it, it was not the funniest farce I have ever seen. It was still funny; there’s no way this script could ever be unfunny. Yet these less-than-perfect attempts merely proved that “Noises Off” is a difficult play to do exactly right.
This backstage comedy demands the kind of precision timing that usually only NASA can pull off. It must be choreographed to the inch, so that the crazy actor with the fire ax brings it down at just the right moment and the trousers drop exactly on schedule.
It also requires top-notch comic performances from its ensemble cast, who must display the right amount of British pomposity, drunken recklessness and theatrical cluelessness, yet still remain in comic control.
How hard is this? Well, the all-star cast of the 1992 movie version of “Noises Off,” including Carol Burnett and Michael Caine, couldn’t pull it off. The movie was a bomb, and only hinted at how much fun the stage version can be.
The genius of “Noises Off” lies mainly in its structure. In each of its three acts, we see a bad English acting troupe doing a silly sex farce called “Nothing On.” Each act shows “Nothing On” from a different perspective.
In Act One, we watch the show from the audience’s perspective. This is the final rehearsal, and it is hilariously obvious that the cast is overmatched. It is also obvious that some there are some, umm, personality conflicts within the company.
In Act Two, the set is turned around so that we see a mid-run performance of the show from backstage. Frayn is on record of saying he got the idea for “Noises Off” when watching one of his previous farces from backstage. We get to see this group of has-beens and never-beens enact their own comedy of errors in the wings.
In Act Three, the set is turned around once again. The run is now 2 months old and we watch from the audience perspective as the wheels come off the bus. The cast members, now completely unhinged, sabotage each other and sow chaos onstage. We can no longer see what’s happening backstage, but we can hear the occasional screech and occasional crash.
In the Civic’s production — the opener of the 2004-05 Main Stage season — director Troy Nickerson has the task of organizing all this mayhem.
The cast includes Melody Deatherage as Dotty, Jamie Flanery as Lloyd and Thomas Heppler as Selsdon Mowbray. The cast also includes Patrick McHenry-Kroetch, Allison Standley, Stephanie Dyer, Wes Deitrick, Jone Campbell Bryan and Bil Childress.
Friday’s performance is a special opening-night gala, with hors d’oeuvres, desserts, wine and a silent auction emceed by playwright-in-residence Bryan Harnetiaux.
By the way, you shouldn’t think of Frayn as a mere clown just because “Noises Off” is a festival of slapstick anarchy. Frayn’s “Copenhagen,” an intellectual drama about physicist Niels Bohr, won a Tony for Best Play in 2000. His most recent play, “Democracy,” is about West German chancellor Willy Brandt.
And if that weren’t impressive enough, Frayn is also an accomplished novelist. “Spies,” “Headlong” and “The Trick of It” were all British best sellers.