The Lyric Hammersmith’s production of Noises Off opens in the living-room of a picturesque country home. “HOLD IT THERE” comes the booming voice of Lloyd Dallas, played by Lloyd Owen. Dallas is the director of Nothing On which is currently approaching the midnight hour of the dress rehearsal in Weston Super-Mare. This is the first of many interruptions that threaten to derail the production.
This play-within-a-play, or more accurately a farce-within-a-farce, centres around an acting company attempting to stage a bedroom farce as their relationships and the show itself descend further and further into chaos. In the first act we see the hours slipping away as the actors try to remember their blocking and lines as Dallas pulls his hair out and the poor Stage Management team of Poppy and Tim (Anjli Mohindra and Adrian Richards respectively) struggle to keep the show afloat and their nerves in check.
The choreography of this show is an utter masterpiece. As each visitor to the house darts through a door another swings open; every character misses the others with timing so impeccable you could set your watch too it. The choreography in the second act steps up a level; axes, sardines and bottles of whiskey fly across the backstage that is now presented to us. Flowers, sheets and costumes get whipped around in a frenzied whirlwind of perfectly executed slapstick comedy and all in silence as we hear the performance take place through the doors and walls of the set which now shows us its unkempt backstage side.