Felicity Kendall as Dotty, Alexander Hanson as Lloyd, and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Belinda
in Noises Off, London 2023
Photo by Nobby Clark
058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn
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Michael Frayn’s iconic comedy Noises Off is a farce about putting on a farce, in which a touring theatre company stage a dated British sex farce entitled Nothing On. As the hapless actors struggle to remember their lines and hit their queues, Frayn gives us a glimpse backstage of the mechanics of theatre, and of the disintegrating relationships of the cast as they toil through their interminable regional tour. Noises Off is a work of theatrical genius. Its parody of second-rate theatre-making is delivered with extraordinary invention and immaculate timing, while it also highlights the humanity of its characters as they stumble through the chaos of the production and their lives.
The play premiered at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith in 1982, before transferring to the Savoy Theatre, where it won the Evening Standard award for Best Comedy and ran for 5 years with five successive casts. It was produced on Broadway in 1983, where the famed New York theatre critic Frank Rich called it the funniest play written in his lifetime. To mark its 40th anniversary, the Theatre Royal Bath mounted a revival, that as we record this episode arrives on stage at the Phoenix theatre in London’s West End in an hilarious production directed by Lindsay Posner.
I’m absolutely delighted to be joined today by Lindsay Posner, who has the distinction of having directed Noises Off twice in his distinguished career. What could possibly go wrong?!
PS You may also enjoy our episode with Michael Frayn on his play Copenhagen.
Lindsay Posner
Lindsay Posner has a remarkable list of theatrical credits as a director, both in the UK and internationally. He has directed Noises Off on two occasions: first at the Old Vic Theatre in 2011, and then most recently at Theatre Royal Bath in 2022, which as we recorded our episode arrived at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End. At the same time, his production of Edward Albee’s classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf was running on the Ustinov stage at the Theatre Royal in Bath.
Lindsay was Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre from 1987-1992.
We’ve included a list of Lindsay’s other credits on his Guest page: Lindsay Posner.
Recommended Play
Lindsay recommended The Truth by Florian Zeller.
The Footnotes to our episode on Michael Frayn’s comic masterpiece Noises Off include extracts from the fictional programme to Nothing On, the play-within-the-play, and a reprisal of one of the best jokes in the play.
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Douglas
113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
Published 24th August
Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.
As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.
112 – Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
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David Mamet’s modern American classic, Glengarry Glen Ross, is a blistering commentary on the cut-throat reality of the American dream, and its poisonous impact on those who have bought into the myth and machismo of that dream. The play had its world premiere in the small Cottesloe theatre at the National Theatre in London in September 1983, and was first performed in New York the following year, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mamet also wrote the extended screenplay for the star-studded 1992 film version.
As we recorded this episode a new production of the play was playing at the Old Vic theatre in London, with an all-female cast. This is a particularly provocative idea, because one of the primary themes of this play is masculine identity, and the salesmen in this Chicago office do not hold back in their display of machismo.
To explore Mamet’s unflinching slice of 1980s dog-eat-dog capitalism, I am joined by arts journalist Mark Lawson.
111 – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht
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Bertolt Brecht’s ‘gangster spectacle’, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, is both an exuberant and funny piece of theatre, and a chillingly topical political satire. Set in the 1930s Chicago of Al Capone, Brecht presents a parody of the rise of Hitler through the character of the gangster Arturo Ui. The play is a universal cry for vigilance against the rise of unscrupulous, populist leaders who threaten democratic societies and global peace.
As we recorded this episode a new production of the play by the Royal Shakespeare Company was playing in Stratford-upon-Avon, starring Mark Gatiss as the title character.
I am delighted to be joined by both the show’s translator, playwright Stephen Sharkey, and by Brecht scholar, Professor Tom Kuhn, to guide us through Brecht’s political parody.
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