The Tower Players - Noises Off Review

A review of Noises Off, performed by The Tower Players in December 2015

On the 10th December 2015, I went to the Prince of Wales theatre in Cannock to watch the Tower Players Perform Noises Off b y Michael Frayn. Before I arrived I thought that the play wasn't going to be very good, as it was going to be performed by amateur dramatics. The set was on ground level close to the audience. It consisted of the framework of a house with simple decorations and a lot of doors. I liked the way the scenery was set, as it allowed all of the audience to see what was happening at all times, but the actors on the bottom floor couldn't see what was above them. Throughout the play it was evident that this set layout allowed two scenes to happen at the same time that the audience could see.

The first act of the play was the final rehearsal for the show 'Nothing on' the night before opening night. The whole show starts with the beginning of 'Nothing on' where Mrs Clackett is relaxing on her day off as house keeper for the house owners that are currently living in Spain to avoid paying extra tax on their house. Unknown to the audience until this point, the director is sitting on the back row and he starts to shout at the actor for making a mistake. I think that a character sitting in the audience enhanced the show, as it made it seemed as if you were actually there during the last rehearsal. This made the audience feel included in the play, which made the theatre experience more intimate.

Throughout the first act different characters start coming into the house, but only Mrs Clackett knows that they are all there. All of the characters end up going in and out of the doors at exactly the same time as someone else, meaning that none of the groups of characters end up seeing each other. I think that the use of scenery in this section is effective; as the doors are used a lot to make the characters unaware that others were there.

In the first act the different characters repeat the same point that another character does earlier on in the act. This makes Lloyd the director react worse every time the remarks are said. I liked this, as the repetition made it funnier every time it was said, because the actors saying the remarks said more sarcastically and the reaction was even more over the top. This made the audience laugh even more each time.

In-between the first and second act, the set was dismantled and turned around, so the back of it was towards the audience, ready for the second act where the same play was being performed, but you could see backstage instead of on-stage. This was effective use of set, as it gave the play another dimension which let the audience see the relationships behind the stage. It also let us see the silent arguments that were going on between the principals, the director and the stage hands, whilst the real show on the other side went on. This made the audience laugh and enjoy the second act, as the actors kept snapping out from their characters to the normal people in the play, arguing and then being able to continue doing the show on the other side of the set correctly. I think that to improve this section, they should've made the audience leave the auditorium for the interval before they started to move the set, as the audience seemed to be bored, as it took five minutes for the set to change.

In the second act, the actors are performing the play but we get to see the backstage point of view of what is happening. What works very well in this section is that all of the events that happen backstage are planned so they work perfectly in time with the opening and closing of the doors in 'Nothing On'. My favourite part of this section was when Belinda Blair was trying to keep everything in order and ended up running up and down the stairs trying to get the other actors' props in the correct places for the scene, and then she snaps into character when she opened one of the doors to go onstage. The reason this section worked particularly well is because her mime skills were polished, and even though backstage she wasn't talking, you could still understand what message she was trying to say due to her movements.

This was my favourite act, because all of the actors knew what they were doing, and the actions that were happening backstage were effecting what was happening on stage. For example, when Dotty tied Gary's' shoelaces together without him noticing, he ended up falling down the stairs in the play on the other side. The audience found this hilarious, as they knew that his laces were tied together, and that we could only see the other actors' laughing facial expressions when this happened.

In the third act, we saw the last show on the tour of 'Nothing On' which showed the broken relationships between all of the actors in the show. Before the show the set was the same as in act 2, but then it was turned around, so we could see the show and the tired expressions on the actors' faces.

I liked how 'Nothing On' ended up not making sense to the actors, so they were just making up random lines whilst going in and out of doors. By the end of the act, the actors had worked out together that the play was only about Doors, Sardines and nothing else. I quite liked this ending, as it showed that the show was a waste of time and money and that items as simple as doors and sardines have caused relationships to become broken.

In conclusion, I would recommend others to go and see this show if you would like to watch a light hearted comedy, but if you're looking for something with a deep meaning or expensive props and scenery I wouldn't recommend it. This show has taught me that characters can have two sides – a side that is shown when trying to get on with their work, and a side that they show when they become angry. It has also shown me that sets can be used to show audiences two sides of play, letting us see the two sides of the characters as well. I feel that this experience could help me in the future, as it has made me realise that sets of a show can be used from all angles, not just the front. This can influence some the ideas that I might have for sets in my possible future career in production arts.

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