Drama- 'Noises Off' Review

I went on a school excursion to see Michael Frayn’s ‘Noises off’. This play is a farce and is portrayed as a ‘play within a play’. The farce managed to capture the audience’s attention without any difficulty. Personally, I have no experience of this writer but i think that he created a very good ‘first- impression’ on me. The play had several theatrical techniques used in it such as, staging, lighting, costumes and make up, sound, dialogue delivery and a combination of characters. Personally, I have no experience of this writer but i think that he created a very good ‘first- impression’ on me.

               

I thought that the space was very well made and set up as the audience could clearly make out that the set represented the inside of a house. The set was themed mostly in the 70’s except when they showed the back stage which was modernized. The actors used this space in a range of different ways. They had a set revolution in the middle of the play to show the backstage and the front stage. The lighting, I thought was very constant throughout the whole play, though they did have a time when all the lights started flickering- it was supposed to interpret that something had gone wrong on stage. They chiefly used very bright lighting. They had a range of sound effects that varied from non-diagetic background music to simple things like footsteps. They also had a ‘ God mike’ where the director in the play was talking from the box above the stage.

There were a lot of props involved in this play- the sardines being one of the main ones. The actors kept connecting to these props to make it more amusing for the audience. They used the props in a certain way so that the audience knows what to expect and when to expect it. Even though the costumes were all set in the 70’s, all the actors had their own colour that reflected on their moods and personality. Their make-up and hair were also done to represent the theme of the 70’s.

The work of the director in this play was fantastic and he had his own way to interpret things throughout the farce. He had a very dominant 70’s theme music playing in the background that straight away told the audience the time period of the play. The works of the actors were very well played. Each one of them had their own whimsical moment.  This piece had a mix of people in both age and in gender and each one of them had their own way of dialogue delivery, gestures, and facial expressions. The pace of the performance started off being a bit slow and then eventually moved on to a faster and faster pace. The actors had a pattern of when to do each thing and they did it three times. Somehow, the more they did it, the funnier it got.

The overall interpretation of the story line was great and very enjoyable. They clearly showed that this was a comedy piece and it did successfully manage to capture the audience’s attention. I definitely think this play is worth the money and I strongly recommend it to everybody.