| Noises Off - Opens March 2 |
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NOISES OFF -By Michael Frayn Info: 215-247-8881 (Menu option 1) All remaining performance of Noises Off are SOLD OUT. Please do not call for reservations.
As a British touring company takes their sex farce “Nothing On” through the provinces, the sillyness on stage gets topped only by the shenanigans, romances, and jealousies backstage. Inevitably the battlefield moves “front” stage, where the players begin to sabotage fellow actors, rewrite dialogue, destroy props, … Riotous - Breathlessly paced - Around the bend “Noises Off” is a theatrical term for sounds coming from off-stage areas. In Michael Frayn’s zany farce those sounds are emitted by members of a dysfunctional acting troupe as part of their real-life intrigues and entanglements, while they are trying to rehearse and perform a comedy called Nothing On. And so, on stage, while this collection of thespians stumbles through entrances and exits, misses cues, forgets lines, and fumbles with props; off stage, they scream, hiss, feud, get drunk, and carry on indiscretions. The action is like a balloon being wrestled with – squeeze one part and another pops out.
We get to see this play-within-a-play as it devolves over time, to the point where the “actors” are taking their cues more and more from the off-stage melodrama, ad-libbing the play freely, and generally trying to wring each others' necks. With the help of the dramatics offstage, their play Nothing On goes from second-rate to truly wretched, as riotously funny on-stage pandemonium prevails.
Noises Off opened in London in 1982 to rave notices, won that year’s award for Best Comedy, and ran for five years with five successive casts. It premiered on Broadway in 1983 and ran for over 500 performances. The play enjoyed a New York revival in 2001 which showcased Patti Lupone and Katie Finneran. A very successful 1992 film version, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, featured an all-star cast that included Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve, and John Ritter. Over the years Noises Off has acquired a huge popular following and been frequently performed in theaters throughout this country and around the world.
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