EVERETT — The well-known English comedy “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn drags its audience laughing right into its play within the play.
Outcast Players, the resident community theater group at the Historic Everett Theatre, delivers a production true to the playwright’s intentions.
Each of the play’s three acts include the opening lines of a poorly written sex farce titled “Nothing On” (wink, wink), in which one woman runs around in underwear, one man accidently drops his pants, doors slam and chaos ensues.
In the first act, a second-rate company of touring actors is in its final dress rehearsal, just hours before the opening performance. Things are not going well. Props are problematic, lines are not memorized, the pace is slow and the actors are not projecting.
The second act happens during a performance a month later, during which the (real) audience sits backstage watching the hilarious antics of the cast behind the set, where they are dealing with a lost contact lens, a bottle of whisky in the hands of an alcoholic cast member, misplaced floral gifts, a love triangle and general infighting. (By the way, “noises off” is a British theater term about offstage sounds, intentional or not.)
The third act, with the set turned around to the audience once again, comes near the end of the tour of “Nothing On.” It’s almost over and the cast is walking through the blocking and ad-libbing their lines.
Playwright Frayn said he got the idea for the comedy while watching from the wings a performance of a farce he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He later wrote that the play was funnier from backstage than out front.
The great thing about the second act is that while it’s the funniest part of the play, the audience remains nearly silent as if they, too, are backstage with the actors.
Laura Shriner directs “Noises Off” and plays the actor Dotty, who portrays Mrs. Clackett, a housekeeper with a penchant for sardines.
Her husband, Curt Shriner, plays Lloyd, the director of “Nothing On.”
The rest of the cast, all good physical comedians, are George Sayah, Ric Calhoun, Cheryl Calhoun, Laurie Miller, Jim Quatier, Tom Guerre and Maureen Hammer.
Sayah and Hammer are great in their roles as Garry and Brooke, but it’s Guerre as the tottering overworked stage manager Tim and Cheryl Calhoun as the energetic actress Belinda who nearly steal the show.
The sturdy set, on wheels so it can be rotated, is a good one. If it runs into the closed curtain during the scene changes, it’s OK to laugh.
Go to this show, laugh out loud and get other people laughing. You’ll be rewarded by the cast, who are listening for those noises off.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
“Noises Off” is presented by the Outcast Players through March 29 at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. For tickets, call 425-258-6766. Performances are 7:30 Thursday, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays.
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