This is a show packed with in-jokes for theatre folks and the star-studded opening night guffawed with glee throughout. But there are plenty of delights here for everyone. it is universal human nature to laugh at the banana peel pratfalls and misfortunes of others – especially within the safety of theatre walls. Jeremy Herrin’s revival of Noises Off launched earlier this year to huge acclaim and packed houses at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. The West End transfer looks set for equal success.
Famously divided into three acts, the first shows an under-rehearsed cast doing the final run-through for creaky fictional farce ‘Nothing On’, about to embark on a regional tour.
Act Two takes us behind the velvet curtain for an early performance, watching the view from behind the scenery as everything starts to unravel. Act Three returns us to watching the show again, this time towards the end of its run.
The genius set-up was inspired by Frayn watching a production of his own 1970 farce The Two of Us from the wings.
He realised what was going on behind the scenes was funnier than out front – and then dialled it up to eleven in Noises Off.
Of course, there is nothing harder than bad acting done on purpose. Plenty can (and do) do it without thought but it takes extraordinary skill and timing to be intentionally terrible.
The cast must also switch between the ludicrous characters in Nothing On and the equally flawed fictional actors playing them, as feuds, romances and rivalries build backstage.
Meera Syal plays grande dame Dotty Otley with gusto and more than a shade of Acorn Antiques’ legendary Mrs Overall and her monstrous alter-ego Bo Beaumont. It’s worth remembering, of course, that Noises Off came first.
Daniel Rigby steals the show as Garry, as joyous in his booming delivery of nonsensical non-sequiturs as he is in the physicality of his increasingly agonising accidents on stage.
Simon Rouse is a joy in his laconic delivery of the sozzled Selsdon while Lisa McGrillis does extraordinary things with a quivering lip or her eternal battle with her contact lenses.
There is also fine support from Sarah Hadland and Richard Henders.
Some of the timing was little rushed, especially in the first act, and a few lines didn’t land or weren’t given space to land but it all builds and builds to a suitably hysterical finish.
My actress date for the night told me she likes different acts most in different productions. For me, this time Act Two shone – with some sensational physical comedy and use of props from an axe to a cactus – but there is plenty to revel in throughout.
Noises Off at the Garrick Theatre to January 4; TICKETS AND INFO HERE
