Noises Off: A Play in Three Acts
by:
Michael Frayn (author)
In Noises Off Michael Frayn creates an ingenious play-within-a-play farce. The on-stage play is a dreadful bedroom farce called Noises On in which scantily clad young ladies are being chased in and out of continually opening and slamming doors by old men. The backstage farce develops during the...
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In Noises Off Michael Frayn creates an ingenious play-within-a-play farce. The on-stage play is a dreadful bedroom farce called Noises On in which scantily clad young ladies are being chased in and out of continually opening and slamming doors by old men. The backstage farce develops during the play’s final rehearsal and tour as the characters make their exits from Noises On only to find themselves making entrances into the even worse nightmare going on backstage and then have to go back again on stage to Noises On. In the end the two farces can be kept separate no longer, and coalesce into one single collective nervous breakdown.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780573619694 (0573619697)
ASIN: 573619697
Publish date: February 10th 2010
Publisher: Samuel French
Pages no: 184
Edition language: English
Category:
Classics,
Humor,
Funny,
Comedy,
Literature,
European Literature,
British Literature,
Adult,
Plays,
Drama,
Theatre
The idea for it came in 1970, when Frayn was watching from the wings a performance of The Two of Us, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind."
A play within a play. Sounds confusing right? I thought so too once hearing that. I essentially only read this play because it was mandatory in my English Writers Craft course, seeing as I'm not big on play wrights. Overall, I did enjoy it, most likely because I read this as play with other students...
I've seen this three times. It's the most clever play, hysterically funny, really laugh-until-it-hurts-funny, but it has to be done by somebody top-notch. Happily, I've only bombed out once.Michael Frayn suffers from being an all-rounder. I once read some advice he gave to aspiring writers. Find one...
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