Sardines and Slamming Doors

Noises Off

Mrs. Clackett, the elderly housekeeper, reels off her lines in a concocted Cockney accent, and then begins her exit, all the while balancing a telephone, a newspaper and the ubiquitous plate of sardines. Suddenly she stops, turns to the audience and asks, “I take the sardines? No, I leave the sardines. No, I take the sardines…” Audiences who aren’t already familiar with British playwright Michael Frayn’s laugh-a-minute farce begin to wonder if the actress (played by the magnificent Ora Jones, portraying English actress Dotty Otley who’s playing Mrs. Clackett) seems to have lost her way. And indeed she has, but that’s just one of the gimmicks behind this play-within-a-play.

What the audience is actually watching is the final rehearsal of a fictional English farce entitled “Nothing On.” It’s being presented by a very amateur British theatrical company. The audience only begins to understand this when Lloyd, their harried and hard-working director (beautifully played by veteran Broadway actor Rick Holmes) strolls down the theater aisle to offer some much-needed direction. The “dress rehearsal” (or is it actually “the technical”?) continues to stop and start as each new problems arises, prompting an evening filled with nonstop laughter.

For theatergoers, NOISES OFF is a laugh-out-loud farce, complete with its requisite running up-and-down stairs, doors slamming, pratfalls, fast-pace lines, clothes coming off and naughty innuendos bouncing between the play’s broadly-written characters. But this play is much more than that. It’s also a brilliantly-disguised illustration of what it takes to mount a comedy. Theatre aficionados will see the show as a side-splitting reminder of what can, and inevitably will, go wrong during a production; but those particularly familiar with Michael Frayn’s script know that this is a finely-honed comedy that requires talent, skill, boundless energy, razor-sharp timing and carefully choreographed staging.

Opening night’s audience was left breathless with laughter and rewarded the cast’s hard work with a well-deserved standing ovation. Anna D. Shapiro, a longtime Steppenwolf Ensemble member, the former Artistic Director and a Tony Award-winner, delivers an inspired staging of this clever farce. The show’s clearly been rehearsed with razor-sharp precision and spot-on timing. The results cannot be denied. Michael Frayn wrote a script that overflows with a multitude of comic bits and Ms. Shapiro perfectly polishes and highlights each and every funny moment. 

When theatergoers return from the first of two intermissions, the houselights dim and Act II begins. But as the audience watches in awe, Todd Rosenthal’s breathtaking stage setting revolves 180 degrees. Suddenly we’re seeing the play from backstage. It’s now several weeks into the company’s tour to several small English villages and the actors’ once harmonious relationships have begun to fray. We’re watching the same play we saw being rehearsed in Act I, but now the temperamental actors and the harried director are trying to cope with all kinds of backstage dramas. The resulting comedy is pure genius. There’s so much going on in this second act (lots of fast-paced entrances and exits, the director’s attempt to appease his two romantic interests, a revengeful jealousy that consumes the entire cast), that it’s vital that the audience knows where to focus its attention every moment. And in this demanding three-ring circus, Anna D. Shapiro’s direction is absolutely brilliant. 

Act III begins with the setting restored to the way we saw it in the first act. Weeks have passed, and the audience can remember the plot of the play-within-the-play. However, since time has passed while the cast has been touring, their backstage dramas have escalated and are overtaking their performances. Theatergoers continue to enjoy the backstabbing and feuding as Act continues. But the actors’ relationships deteriorate to the point that the farce they’re presenting totally falls apart. Act III is only a vague semblance of the original play, but in the final moments of NOISES OFF everyone comes together at last to bring down the curtain of “Nothing On.”   

NOISES OFF is an excellent opening of Steppenwolf’s 49th season. This production, one of the funniest farces in the English language, is flawlessly presented. Michael Frayn’s laugh-a-minute comedy classic is not easy to mount. But not only is Ms. Shapiro’s direction inspired, sharp and focused, her entire cast is superb. Among the nine talented actors, every performance is a standout. 

Talented Ora Jones is one of Chicago’s favorite actresses, having dazzled audiences all over the Windy City and beyond. In NOISES OFF she plays the role of grande diva Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett. As this character, Ms. Jones seems to be more in charge of the play-within-the-play than the director. Lloyd Dallas, the anxious and stressed Director of “Nothing On,” is skillfully portrayed with wisdom and weariness by New York actor Rick Holmes. Broadway and television actor/writer Andrew Leeds is drop-dead hilarious as a John Cleese-like Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain. His pompous character’s inability to finish a thought or a sentence, along with the character’s exaggerated reactions to every surprise situation in the play, were all absolutely hilarious and unforgettable.

The co-Artistic Director of Steppenwolf, comic genius Audrey Francis, is positively priceless as Belinda Blair/Flavia Brent. I have never seen this role played with so much style, brilliance and levity. Ms. Francis is a versatile talent, who impressed in the company’s recent production of THE THANKSGIVING PLAY. Here she portrays Belinda as a second-rate actress who likes to strike a stock posture or physical stance for her character’s every thought or reaction. With her arms flung out like she’s in flight, her Belinda/Flavia resembles a Ziegfeld showgirl. James Vincent Meredith, as Frederick Fellowes/Philip Brent, plays an actor who’s in constant need of pampering and positive reassurance. His extreme reactions to violence and blood become funnier as the play progresses, but nothing surpasses seeing this actor hopping up and down the stairs with his pants around his ankles.

Amanda Fink plays sexy actress (Brooke Ashton/Vicki), a blonde bimbo who often stops rehearsals because she loses her contact lens. And when problems occur during the production, Brooke just keeps spouting her lines in the order that she memorized them, no matter what’s happening onstage. Vaneh Assadourian makes her Steppenwolf debut as Poppy Norton-Tayler. She earns the audience’s sympathy and laughter as Lloyd’s put-upon assistant stage manager and the female understudy for every role. A familiar face at Steppenwolf, as well as on almost every stage throughout Chicagoland, Francis Guinan is especially funny as a somewhat senile, selectively hard-of-hearing veteran actor named Selsdon Mowbray. He also happens to be an alcoholic. And last, but not least, Max Stewart’s boyish and befuddled backstage handy man, Tim Allgood, earns lots of laughter and admiration for his overworked Jack-of-all-trades who valiantly keeps the production going.  

Appropriately labeled “The funniest farce ever written” by the New York Post, please don’t miss Steppenwolf’s meticulously directed and perfectly cast production of Michael Frayn’s hilarious comedy. The farce is filled curious characters, priceless plot twists, plates piled high with sardines and lots of slamming doors. Made even more perfect by Todd Rosenthal’s gorgeous set, Izumi Inaba’s colorful costumes, Josh Epstein’s expert Lighting and Cricket Meyers’ fine Sound Design, with Violence Design provided by R&D Choreography and Kate DeVore’s careful Dialect and Vocal Coaching, this is one theatrical experience that Chicago audiences richly deserve and won’t soon forget. 

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented September 12-November 3 by Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted, Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling Audience Services at 312-335-1650 or by going to www.steppenwolf.org.

Additional information about this and other fine area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com