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‘Noises Off’ Review: Nine Doors to Delight - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Most theatrical rehearsals aren’t remotely as lunatic as this, of course. When things do go wrong, though, they can go really, really wrong, and every disaster portrayed in “Noises Off” has actually happened somewhere or other. What makes the play so funny is that all of them, from the first memory lapse to the last life-threatening pratfall, happen in the same show at the same time. It’s Murphy’s Law run amuck. The second act in particular is a whirligig of slapstick choreography for whose pristine execution Mr. Herrin deserves the highest possible marks.
A couple of years after my son's school had a production of Noises Off, there was a musical which, owing to the demands on high school students' time, never till the night before dress rehearsal had its full complement on stage. In an idle moment, one of the young men spun his way across stage, lost his footing, fell against a bit of scenery, and gave himself a nice cut along one eyebrow. Fortunately, the nearest emergency room was only a few blocks away.
ReplyDeleteIt had not previously occurred to me to make the connection with noises off, but I see what the author means.