Theatre | The Guardian: All plays, wrote critic John Lahr, are dated. He meant, I assume, that all plays are inevitably products of a particular historical moment. But the best plays also transcend their time and that is palpably true of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off.
4 comments:
I have never heard of Noises Off before but after reading this article I looked up the Wikipedia page on this play and it sounds very interesting. I am rather fond of plays about the industry. I think people in power like the Academy for movies or the Tony’s for Broadway always like hearing stories about themselves. I like these metanarratives because they usually offer a level of intimacy and authenticity that you may not be able to get if a playwright wrote about an unfamiliar topic like Mormons on a trip to Uganda. Theater people know theater very well and are going to be able to create compelling characters and interesting stories when focused on things in their own backyard. That is why it does not surprise me that a show like Noises Off is continuing to thrive all these years later. I will definitely keep an eye out for a production I can one day watch in person.
I almost got to do Noises Off my senior year of high school, and I’m so disappointed that complications kept us from doing it. I love Noises Off for so many reasons, but a main one is one the article brings up - the characters are real people. Personally, I feel like enjoying a piece of media to the fullest requires empathy and relation, which is why the best comedies have grounded, real elements to them. I feel like Mischief Theatre’s work is akin to a modern Noises Off. They’re the creators behind The Play That Goes Wrong, and have scores of different projects under this same concept. They all have consistent characters, and cleverly reveal the plot underneath the surface of the production. I also feel like Noises Off is especially effective because of its structure, where the same piece is run three different times, in three different situations. This is also something Mischief does VERY well - repeated gags. Repeating the same thing, getting more absurd each time.
When I think of the play “Noises Off” I think of farce and when I think of farce I think of “Noises Off” so this makes sense to me! I love the quote in this piece that reads “Like all first-rate plays, Noises Off also acts as a metaphor.” I’ve heard people go on about how comedy does not hold as much weight as drama or history, or even musicals. But at heart, comedies can teach us a lot about human relationships and the world around us, just in a more palatable and (hopefully) enjoyable manner. I’ve seen this play various times throughout high school and despite the questionable directing choices and almost consistently rickety stairs, I always left feeling better than I did when I walked in the room.
Before reading this article, I had no clue what Noises Off was, but after doing some research on it, it sounds like something that I would have a great time watching. As said in the article, the play contains believable people, something people may relate to in one way or another causing them to feel a possible emotional connection with the play. It almost sounds somewhat timeless. Nobody had to live through the specific period that the play took place during, nor do they have to have an understanding of anything to find the play enjoyable. People are able to relate to the simple human relationships portrayed through the characters. Especially with this play being a comedy, this show seems so much more lighthearted than other things put onto the stage. People genuinely understand the relationships these characters have with each other, making it an enjoyable experience for the audience.
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