Hi, welcome back to Words of worlds! Today we'll be discussing "Noises off", which recently finished it's run at the Garrick Theatre in London. I was lucky enough to see this show on the 3rd, the day before it closed, because I was given theatre vouchers for Christmas.
So how did I find out about the show? I heard about it's existence way back in 2018 when Rebecca Parham,aka. Let me explain studios, released a video on Youtube talking about a crazy theatre teacher she had. The video is linked below.
Let me explain studios video
During a trip to London around September time, I passed the theatre and saw it advertised. After further research into the synopsis, I knew I had to see it. Not just as an ex-actress, theatre geek but as a comedy fan.
Now let's get talking about the day, the theatre itself and the play. As usual SPOILER ALERT!!! also STRONG LANGUAGE ALERT!
For clarification the director and actors/actresses mentioned are all characters in the play. The actual actors/actresses and company behind the play will not be mentioned.
I know that life-blogging isn't what I usually do but on this occasion I absolutely must. I got a single ticket to see the evening performance of the show so I had an entire day to kill. Luckily my girlfriend was free so we spent the day together. We came across what looked to be a duck-goose hybrid, saw a street performer do insane tricks with a hoop, found Hello Kitty bubble tea, geeked out at forbidden planet and helped a man out with his drunk colleague. It was both really random but honestly sometimes the random things turn out to be the best things!
The best part of the day was when we reached the theatre. Theatre 101: Always turn up to collect tickets half an hour to an hour before the show. If you already have your tickets to hand, show up half an hour early to ensure you don't miss the show and to collect theatre merch. We arrived 45 mins before the show was due to start. Although she wasn't seeing the show with me, my girlfriend went through security with me and waited with me until the doors to the show opened. Best time ever! We stood around chatting and when the doors opened, with tears in our eyes we said our goodbyes and hugged each other. I was about to head to the circle doors when she turned to me and made the first move, we kissed each other for the first time. It was truly the greatest and afterwards, I entered the theatre giddy. For the first time, my excitement wasn't due to waiting for the show to start but due to the electricity that sparked between me and my girlfriend...
Whilst sitting in my seat (B8), I began chatting with the people around me and that made me feel even more amazing because it was my first time seeing a show in London by myself. I would very much like to say thank you to those people who made the effort to talk to me before the show and during the interval.
Plain and simple, the beginning of the show sucks! Simply because it takes a while to make sense of what's going on and the comedic moments don't really kick in until halfway through the first act.
For those of you who haven't seen the show or know absolutely nothing about it, allow me to give you some info. It's a 2 act play that centres around a theatre company full of actors/actresses who don't get along, trying to put on a play called "Nothing's on" and failing. This may sound farmilliar to those of you who have heard of or have seen "The play that goes wrong". You may be wondering why the two sound so similar? That's because "Noises off" was the inspiration behind "The play that foes wrong."
Going back to the first act, it is necessary because it introduces us to the characters and shows us the rehearsal process but I really think there needs to be more comedic elements to it. Put it this way, if I am contemplating walking out of the theatre or thinking that it sucks before halfway through the first act, it needs work. That being said, it got better and eventually turned out to be even funnier than "The comedy about a bank robbery" and "the play that goes wrong" combined.
The comedic style itself is classic. I have never seen so many sardines in all my life and I have never heard anyone shout "SARDINES, SARDINES, SARDINES, SARDINES, SARDINES!!" before. I thoroughly enjoyed the sarcastic director, who literally takes a break from the other show he is working on (King Lear) to come backstage during their first performance and shout "What the fuck is going on?" 10/10 director of the year. It gets more interesting as it turns out that the director (Lloyd) has not slept with 1 but 2 of the actresses and has amazingly managed to keep the fact that he has slept with both of them a secret. Sure, this is such a horrible and immoral thing to do, but we have to keep in mind that this is a comedic play, therefore this is incredibly funny and it is socially acceptable to laugh at it.
Oh and it gets so much funnier by throwing booze, bad acting, an axe and a cactus into the mix. I wonder what made the director think that combining this group of actors was a good idea. They clearly don't get along! At the same time I am glad the director cast these actresses/actors simply because it is this very combination of opposing fatal flaws within the cast that makes the play go so wrong, therefore making it so hilarious.
It's such a same to have to wave goodbye to this show once again (it was first performed in the 1980's) because it deserved a longer run. That being said, "City of Angels" is due to perform at the Garrick this year, which looks amazing.
Have you seen "Noises off"? Do you think of it as a classic comedy? Would you have liked to have seen it? Do you think it needed a longer run? Do you talk to people you meet at the theatre? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below and we can all have a bit of a laugh together.
Ticket update: In my last post I said that this year I was only going to see Heather's. As a result of Christmas, I am now going to be seeing "Six" the musical, "Everybody's talking about Jaime", "And Juliet" and "Come from away".
2020 Book challenge update: I have read "George" by Alex Gino and "101 pieces of me" by Veronica Bennett. I am currently reading book 3 in The Nerd Daily's challenge: purchased on holidays. For me that is "Rookie on love" by various authors, which I bought at "Shakespeare and company" bookshop in Paris.
That's all for now, thank you so much for reading. Stay tuned as next week I'll be discussing a mystery topic...
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