Sedos brings Noises Off to Bridewell Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
SEDOS is presenting Michael Frayn’s riotous backstage farce Noises Off at Bridewell Theatre – from October 15 to October 24, 2015.
That’s what it’s all about. Doors and sardines. Getting on – getting off. Getting the sardines on – getting the sardines off. That’s farce. That’s the theatre. That’s life.
Noises Off lifts the curtain on the backstage drama of a touring theatre company as they stumble their way through rehearsals to a shambolic first night and a final disastrous performance. It’s a world where doors get stuck, sardines go missing, actors become glued to props, scantily-clad women search for lost bags and lines are dropped nearly as frequently as the leading man’s trousers.
Noises Off was first performed in 1982 starring Patricia Routledge and Paul Eddington. In a testament to its enduring popularity, it has been put on numerous times since, including a 2000 revival at the National Theatre with Patricia Hodge and Peter Egan. In the most recent professional production, at the Old Vic in 2011, Celia Imrie and Robert Glenister headed up the cast.
“I first remember seeing an amateur production of Noises Off when I was in my mid-teens and thinking that it was the funniest play I’d ever seen,” says director Matt Gould. “Even then, I was heavily involved backstage in theatres and I remember watching things go wrong both from a technical point of view, as well as the cast relationships being so close to the real amateur world, was so funny that I just couldn’t stop laughing.”
Noises Off provides tough challenges for the director and cast as they create both the characters of the real actors who populate the show and the roles they take in the play within the play, Nothing On. And the virtually silent 20-minute mime of Act Two, as the audience watch the show from backstage, is renowned for its difficulty.
“I have wanted to direct this play for many years – but have only recently plucked up the courage,” admits Matt Gould. “But rehearsals have been a blast – I don’t remember ever laughing as much! It really is true that what goes on in the rehearsal room is often far more entertaining that the end product – and Michael Frayn has captured that so well in Noises Off.
“Hopefully the audience will have the same experience that I did the first time I saw the play – that they will go home and think that it was the funniest night that they’ve ever had at the theatre.”
The show also demands a great deal of the production team, who must create a set which turns to allow the audience to see both the front and back of it. Set designer Steven King also worked with Matt Gould on the acclaimed set for last year’s Sedos production of Into the Woods, which won the Shinfield Players Scenic Award from the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA).
The cast includes Chloë Faine (as Dotty Otley), Harriet Usher (Belinda Blair), Peter Bryans (Freddie Fellowes ), Sam Pearce (Garry Lejeune), Jessica Rogers (Brooke Ashton), Michael Mayne (Selsdon Mowbray), Chris de Pury (Lloyd Dallas), Alex Magliaro (Tim Allgood) and Laura Capaldi (Poppy Norton-Taylor).
Produced by Pippa Kyle , Noises Off has costumes and production desig by Clare Harding and lighting and sound design by Ben Hussey. Assistant director is Tracie Laurinaitis.
Image: The cast of the Sedos production of Noises Off in rehearsal — Chloe Fainë as Dotty (left); Peter Bryans as Freddie (being held); Sam Pearce as Garry (holding Peter); Harriet Usher as Belinda (standing right) and Jessica Rogers as Brooke (kneeling right). Picture by David Ovenden.
Tickets: £11 – £18. Book online at www.sedos.co.uk/. No booking fee. Buy 10 tickets and get a 10% discount.
Gala Nights: Saturday, October 17 and Friday, October 23. Ticket includes a free glass of fizz and a late bar.
Charity Night: Tuesday, October 20. 50% of proceeds are donated to Chickenshed, Sedos Charity of the Year 2015.
Times: 7.30pm; Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. No performance on Sunday, October 18 or Monday, October 19.
Sedos is also presenting tick, tick… BOOM!, winner of the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best off-Broadway musical in 2001, at Bridewell Theatre (September 15 to September 19, 2015).