Noises Off

Michael Frayn’s hilarious comedy, Noises Off, depicts the antics, on and offstage, of a third-rate acting troupe performing in a fourth-rate British sex farce in a country-house setting with eight doors and a window. The play-within-a-play being “performed” by these “actors” is also a farce, about trysts in a supposedly empty house. In Act I of the play, the first act of the British sex farce is seen in rehearsal; in Act II, we see it being performed, but from a backstage view; and, in Act III, we see it “played” again, this time from the audience’s point of view. It has become an absolute shambles of missed cues and careless improvisations.