The Department of Theatre and Dance opens its 2018-19 Walter Gloor Mainstage Series with a comedy that the New York Times calls “the most dexterously realized comedy ever about putting on a comedy and a spectacularly funny, peerless backstage farce.”
“Noises Off” opens Friday, Oct. 19, and runs for six performances through Oct. 27 in the Robert W. Marvel Theatre at the Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center on the Fredonia campus.
Director James Ivey hopes that audiences “will be able to put away the troubles of the world for a couple of hours and take away an evening of unbridled laughter.”
“‘Noises Off’ is a masterpiece of comedy written in the farcical style by Michael Frayn,” Dr. Ivey said. “It captures the very essence of farce structure and is compelling because of its rapid paced action and specific physical comedy.”
More than 50 Fredonia students are involved in the production.
“A major highlight is the cast of nine young actors who are committed to bringing laughter to the audience through their split second timing and daring physical comedy,” Ivey said. “The scenery designed by Meg Valentine, a B.F.A. Theatrical Production and Design major, is a delightful environment for the action of the play, built on a revolving stage; it is spectacular for a college theatre program.”
Featuring a play-within-a-play, “Noises Off” follows a director and group of actors as they stumble through three performances of a farce called “Nothing On.” Stuffed with slapstick comedy, silly props, offstage antics, and missed cues, “Noises Off” provides a humorous look at theatre hijinks.
“’Nothing On,’ the ‘play within the play’ of ‘Noises Off,’ is made clear to the audience as the action is stopped by the director to solve problems with the actors,” Ivey said. “The stage managers of the company appear and fix problems on the set and backstage romances become apparent.”
Over the course of the evening, Ivey said, viewers get to see the play within the play “acted out three times ultimately with disastrous results.”
“Noises Off” opened on Broadway in 1983 and earned a Tony Award nomination for best play.
Dates and show times are Friday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m., and Thursday, Oct. 25 through Saturday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. The production is recommended for mature audiences.
Tickets are available through the Campus Ticket Office in the Williams Center, by phone at 716-673-3501 and online at www.fredonia.edu/tickets. “Noises Off” is presented as part of the Lake Shore Savings Season.
