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It is only hours before the opening of a British adult farce, Nothing On, and the touring company is hurriedly running through a final dress rehearsal, before the first audience arrives. Act One: During the first act, we are an audience to this production of a play within a play. The Nothing On cast is loveable, but mainly inept. Dotty (Alison Schamberger), the actor playing Mrs. Clackett, can’t remember her entrances and exits due to a pesky prop. Brooke (Sarah Mendenhall), playing Vicki, one of the female leads, is constantly posing and primping, without any understanding of what the play is about or what she is doing. Meanwhile Garry (Keith Berry), playing her love interest Roger, Act Two: For this act, we, the audience, are sitting backstage; the entire set has been turned 180 degrees. We can hear the actors, and see the various spectacular antics offstage between their exits and entrances. The play has been on the road for one month now, and relationships between cast members, as well as the quality of Nothing On, have deteriorated. Tim (Christopher Walters), the company stage manager, tries valiantly to keep the show together while dragging the actors out of their dressing rooms in time for their entrances. Meanwhile, Garry and Dotty are in the middle of an unhappy love affair. Poppy (Lisa Gach), the assistant stage manager, has a “little” secret; and Selsdon Mowbray (Paul Fisher), a somewhat past his prime actor, is trying to stay sober between scenes. Add to this a visit by director Lloyd, who is there first of all to comfort his “overly excited” lover, Brooke, and second to try and save his play from total disaster. Most of the company is in a continual state of agitation, and this disorder is carrying over into the play, causing missed entrances, flubbed lines, and frantic hilarity despite the best efforts of the cast, the crew, and Lady Luck! Act 3 is even more frenetic, but you need to visit The Metro Theatre to see who is still standing when the curtain falls! The awesome misadventures and mind-boggling mayhem of Noises Off is under the superb direction of Catherine Morrison. With a flurry of entrances, exits, and a great many doors slamming, the masterful set, designed by Dave Carroll & pulled together by Dwayne Campbell and his team, will be put to the test. Noises Off has been called “The Funniest Farce Ever Written!” With commotion in the wings, yelps and battle cries from the actors, a frenzied pantomime with a wine bottle, a cactus plant, and other assorted paraphernalia while trousers drop with dizzying abandon…. How can you miss this production?
METRO THEATRE – 1370 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver |
is constantly trying to stay on par with the rest of the company. The other romantic couple consists of Frederick (Mike Wild) playing Philip and Belinda (Scheherazaad Cooper) playing Flavia. With Belinda being faithfully positive and Frederick off on another tangent, they are a hard couple to resist. Trying to pull this all together into some semblance of a presentable show is the director, Lloyd Dallas (Ben Wilkinson), who is trying to get everybody ready for opening…. which is tomorrow!
