Noises Off
by Michael Frayn
June 2010: Sewell Barn Theatre
Director: Martyn Richards
Photography: Michael Stanislaw
Did I say that other shows had been 'challenging'? This show took that definition onto another plane. The first and third acts are viewed from the conventional audience perspective; Act II is viewed from backstage (which is therefore onstage) while the play-within-a-play is being performed onstage (which is of course backstage), our voices miked up; stage left became stage right, and vice versa; the actions in Act II (visible offstage, which was of course onstage) were cued by, but bore no relation to, the words that were spoken from onstage (i.e. offstage)... Every member of the cast came away from this vastly successful (and sold-out-with-an-extra-performance-added) show saying "If we can manage Noises Off, there is absolutely nothing we can't do in the theatre..."