Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Miriam Gillinson

Noises Off review – Frayn’s exquisite farce-within-a-farce finds new humanity

Every laugh comes with a wince … l to r, Felicity Kendal, Jonathan Coy and Joseph Millson in Noises Off.
Every laugh comes with a wince … l to r, Felicity Kendal, Jonathan Coy and Joseph Millson in Noises Off. Photograph: ©Nobby Clark

Well, here’s a surprise. Michael Frayn’s exquisite farce – now celebrating its 40th anniversary – has always been exceptionally funny. But has it ever been shot through with this much pathos? It’s not the first time Lindsay Posner has directed Frayn’s farce-within-a-farce and, in terms of laughs per minute, it’s not a patch on his 2011 production at The Old Vic (I’m smiling just remembering it). But there’s something about this thoughtful and compassionate take that feels more relevant and just that bit more real.

With Felicity Kendal as the doddery Dotty Otley – a regional actor on her final tour – this was never going to be a show with clowning at its heart. There’s something Beckettian about Kendal’s performance, as she staggers about the stage with a plate of sardines, doomed to make the same mistakes again and again. Jonathan Coy plays Frederick Fellowes, an ageing actor who simply cannot get anything right. He’s often portrayed as an easy figure of fun but, here, every laugh comes with a wince.

Keeping the whole shambles together … l to r, Pepter Lunkuse, Alexander Hanson and Tracy-Ann Oberman in Noises Off.
Keeping the whole shambles together … l to r, Pepter Lunkuse, Alexander Hanson and Tracy-Ann Oberman in Noises Off. Photograph: ©Nobby Clark

Then there are the harassed characters behind the scenes – the stage manager (Pepter Lunkuse) and stagehand (Hubert Burton) – tasked with holding the shambolic show together. There’s something about the way the director wrings those two dry that, last night at least, felt particularly uncomfortable and pertinent. As the pound tumbled and the UK financial market quaked, the stagehands felt like the civil servants of the theatrical world; the unsung heroes left to clean up the mess created by those in positions of power.

The big laughs (and there are still lots) are largely left to the brilliant Joseph Millson, who plays the grandstanding lead actor Garry Lejeune. Millson bounces up the stairs with his shoelaces tied together: hilarious. He tumbles down the stairs: sublime. Tracy-Ann Oberman has a wonderful twinkle about her and wafts about the stage with a permanent air of mischief. They inject a little lightness into a production that wasn’t as funny as I’d anticipated – but was many other things instead. What a testament to Frayn that he can write a play with such a meticulous structure, that still manages to bend to the times in which it is performed.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.