Noises Off entertains and defies norms as a play within a play

27-30.

River Campus delivered a riot of physical comedy and chaos with its production of Noises Off, performed from Sept. 27-30. The show brought laughter and energy, offering audiences a unique blend of farce and behind-the-scenes madness.

Noises Off utilizes a dynamic and unique storyline of a play within a play. Nothing On is the play being acted out within Noises Off. Noises Off shows the behind-the-scenes hilarity that ensues when trying to act out Nothing On.

Assistant Professor of acting and musical theater and director of Noises Off Tim Nicolai described the challenges of doing such a unique play, commending the cast for their talent and hard work.

“These guys are so smart and so talented. And I think doing farce is kind of like flying a plane as opposed to driving a car with a normal play. It's like trigonometry instead of arithmetic. But they got there, and it just keeps getting better,” Nicolai said.

Act Two of Noises Off began with the set turning around so you see behind the curtain of Nothing On as the play goes on. The act is mostly without lines and uses physical comedy to communicate with the audience.

“Act Two has ended up being my favorite, and also it was by far the most difficult to pull off. It has gotten sharper every time, but it's so unbelievably complex, figuring out the different paths, making sure that they're hearing what's going on on stage, making sure that they're receiving visual cues,” Nicolai said.

Freshman and wildlife conservation biology major Cody Patterson described the play as chaos and said his favorite part was the behind the scenes look in Act Two.

“Chaos, utter and indistinguishable chaos,” Patterson said. “Act Two had my heart. You got to see just, just the utter breakdown of any sense of formality, and it was very funny.”

Junior BFA acting major Anna Riemenschneider, who played Poppy Norton-Taylor, the assistant stage manager in the fake play, described the process of learning Act Two.

“I liked the physical stuff in act two, because there's no lines, and you just have to remember all of our blocking. The rehearsal process was very quick, we started staging like, almost right away and we just kind of like, dove in head first, but I like that it was quick and fun and very new,” Riemenschneider said.

Junior musical theater major Miko Hare, who plays director Lloyd Dallas gave an inside look at the way his character defies normal character rules.

“Lloyd is really interesting because he's used like a tool to break the fourth wall. So it's trying to be, I guess, the voice of reason, while also being a really interesting sort of tool for the play,” Hare said.

At the beginning of the play, Hare’s character blends with the audience, speaking lines from within the crowd, which he said adds excitement to the role.

“When I sit down for the first time, my heart is always racing, but it is like, always an honor. To be a part of the audience and break that illusion. Because I know it just breaks the idea of what people have in their mind when they think of theater,” Hare said.

Senior BFA acting major Zander Card described the difficulties and dynamics of executing such an intricate character storyline. He played Roger Tramplemain in Nothing On within Gary Lejeunne in Noises Off.

“It's really interesting finding thinking about a character and then thinking about how this character would do that character,” Cardx said. “It makes you think very well.”

With the unique storyline and hardworking actors the audience was laughing from the first act. Which is why director Nicolai said this play was chosen. Its humor and dynamic storyline made the audience love it.

“It was pretty clear the community was hungry for comedy, so we wanted to get something in there that we thought was pretty certain to make people laugh and just get to escape for a couple hours,” Nicolai said.