★★★★ | Noises Off, Garrick Theatre, London
The production of ‘Nothing on’ in Western-Super-Mare is now playing at the Garrick theatre in a new production of Noises off.
Confused? Dont be. We are treated to the show, as well as the backstage antics of the cast, in this hilarious and new production of Noises Off – a show that has been around since 1982. It’s a farce, with lots of physical humour which the cast amazingly carry out. They are all amazing and all have impeccable timing.
We are at the Grande Theatre in the play within a play, and the show we are seeing involves a lot of tooing and froing. We are watching a rehearsal of ‘Nothing On,’ and the cast seem to be hopelessly not getting it. The director (Lloyd Owen) is at his wits end, but the actors continue to act out the plot, which is just as zany as the show. (It involves two couples and a very large house with a maid (Meera Syal) who goes about her business while mayhem goes on around her).
Then after the interval, the set is turned around so we are now looking behind the stage but it’s still the same scene we just saw in the first act – so get so see what is happening backstage at the same time. Genius! The actors at this point are performing twice – and they do it brilliantly! Especially the contact lens scene that was in the first act and it is also actually happening backstage – it boils all to great laughter!<
And act 3 carries on with the show that we saw in the first act and the physical humour is ramped up (way up when Daniel Rigby falls down a flight of stairs. God bless him, and the other actors who have to do this 8 times a week.
Noises off is a play within a play, a farce within a farce, and one off the most hilarious shows you will see this year, or any year.
Noises Off plays at the Garrick Theatre until 4 January 2020 noisesoffplay.com
