Noises Off, Phoenix Theatre review ★★★★★

Before perma-hit The Play That Goes Wrong came along in 2012, there was Michael Frayn’s superlatively funny ‘farce from behind’ Noises Off, a three-act face-plant into just about every situation that can fell a touring theatre company. Staged only intermittently, though frankly deserving of a permanent hub on the West End, it’s currently enjoying a 40th anniversary outing fronted by a cast of TV favourites and helmed by Lindsay Posner – who also directed 2011’s triumphant revival at the Old Vic.

In this play-within-a-play, we first watch the excruciating tech rehearsal of a new show, Nothing On, due to embark on a regional tour. It’s meant to be a sex farce, but with so many forgotten lines, misplaced props and broken pieces of set, it soon becomes a play about doors and sardines – and it quickly transpires there’s more drama off stage than on, with several members of the company embroiled in affairs and another drinking on the job.

Noises Off: Felicity Kendal (Dotty),Tracy-Ann Oberman (Belinda) and Matthew Kelly (Selsdon). Photo: Nobby Clark

It takes a self-aware ensemble to make this fast-paced, madcap rollercoaster of a show shine. In Posner’s latest production, The Good Life’s Felicity Kendal is the glue holding the company-within-a-company together as the forgetful and aptly named Dotty. It’s not the loudest performance in the show, but with her this comedy is in safe hands. EastEnders’ Tracy-Ann Oberman is another TV pull, playing the meddling gossiper Belinda Blair with an air of coquettish mischief.

Matthew Kelly, who many will associate with hosting Stars in their Eyes, but who’s also an Olivier-winning West End semi-regular, brings bundles of measured mischief to the part of drunk and senile Selsdon.

Fuelling the production, though, is Alexander Hanson as the haughty director Lloyd, bellowing at the hopeless cast from the auditorium or delivering brilliant moments of sarcasm backstage; and Joseph Millson as Garry, pulling off some terrific clowning in leaping up the stairs with his shoelaces tied and later folding himself through a door.

Noises Off: Joseph Millson (Garry), Felicity Kendal (Dotty) and Matthew Kelly (Selsdon). Photo: Nobby Clark

Frayn is a master of well-paced comedy. The beauty of Noises Off is that its deliciously silly first act is really just setting the scene for what's to come. After that, it gets funnier, then funnier again. For act two, designer Simon Higlett’s doll’s-house-like set is reversed, taking us backstage with the cast who are now midway through the run. We know from the disastrous rehearsal what’s happening on stage, and as disembodied voices rattle through the play out of eye-shot, we’re immersed in the behind-the-scenes mayhem, where fuses are running short, resentments running high, and a series of pranks deliver wickedly funny clatters of slapstick.

Noises Off: Joseph Millson (Garry), Alexander Hanson (Lloyd), Hubert Burton (Tim) and Sasha Frost (Brooke). Photo: Nobby Clark

The third act sees the stage turned again, and we watch a nightmarish performance of the show, now on its last leg (and legs), staged by a company who now truly hate each other. Everything that could go wrong does, sending the comedy dominoes tumbling, and it's delightfully entertaining.

Noises Off is a real industry-insiders’ play; it’s stuffed with references to famous characters, and runs like the anxiety dream of anybody who’s been a cog in a tricksy production. But with its masterful clowning and killer one-liners (‘I’m not in Spain, I’m in agony’, ‘I thought I heard a box’), it’s an inclusive comedy that's impossible not to laugh along with. And if you don’t think slapstick is for you, Posner’s production will change your mind.