For their first production for 2009 the Genesian Theatre Company are putting on a production of the British playwright Michael Frayn’s evergreen 1982 comedy, ‘Noises Off’.

‘Noises Off’, the inner city Genesian Theatre Company’s first production for 2009, is blessed to be one of those plays where the idea and the execution are equally effective. Frayn ran with the idea of writing a play about ‘Nothing On’, the latest production from a third rate British touring theatre company with the emphasis coming from the frenetic action taking place between the cast and crew behind the stage.

Frayn milks the play within a play idea for plenty of laughs. This is a world full of the cast forgetting lines and cues, old actors on the bottle, actors having affairs with other, lots of opening and closing of doors, and more…

Grant Fraser’s set design features a two storey revolve which turns after each interval. ‘Noises Off’ is divided into 3 Acts; Act 1 is the fraught dress rehearsal before opening, with Act 2 the company is on the road, and we see the action from behind the stage, Act 3 we see the play from the front of the stager again, performed a few months later, and with the script having noticeably changed!

Tom Massey’s production served Frayn’s classic comedy well, and he won
good performances from his cast, who enjoyed their dual roles, playing the characters on stage, and the actors off stage.

There were some stand-outs in the cast. Henry Jennings impressed as the plays’ frazzled director Lloyd Dallas, struggling to keep the play from being a debacle, as well as dealing with the fall-out from being romantically involved with two of the women in the production. Elizabeth Campbell shone as the stressed out stage manager, Poppy, as did Jordan Watt as Phillip Brent, intent on dodging Inland Revenue.

A fun night at the theatre, ‘Noises Off’ is playing the Genesian theatre, 420 Kent Street, Sydney until the 21st February.