Nothing On Noises OffDate: 12 January 2012
The middle Act One of Michael Frayn's three Act Ones in Noises Off -- the first in rehearsal, the second backstage, the third in a disastrous performance -- takes place at a Wednesday matinee with an elderly audience.
So it was no suprise at all that the eruption of Robert Glenister's incensed director at yesterday's Old Vic Wednesday matinee with an elderly audience should be the comic highlight of Lindsay Posner's well-drilled production: as the stage management call conflicting instructions front of house, and pensioners panic in confusion, Glenister yells that some of them don't have very long to live...
How the wrinklies roared in delighted agreement! There had indeed been a stampede to the lavatories in the interval, always a sure sign of a senior clientele, another being the docile encampment of almost all of them in their seats fifteen minutes at least before curtain up.
Posner's production is well acted and sharply despatched -- and you'd be mad to miss it before it comes off in March, especially if you've never seen the play before -- but it doesn't quite have the killer delirium of Michael Blakemore's original production, and there were one or two superior performances in Jeremy Sams' National Theatre revival twelve years ago.
But one shouldn't quibble, Sybil, when the cleverest and funniest British farce of the last century (it opened in 1982 and ran for five years in the West End) is back on tap in the same season as One Man, Two Guvnors, The Ladykillers, Matilda, Jerusalem (finishing this weekend) and Alan Bennett's The Madness of King George ("what, what"), which opens after previews on Monday week.
That's a tremendous strike rate of "kwalitee" entertainment in the commercial sector, even though most of it originated in the subsidised theatre, including the Frayn, which started at the Lyric Hammersmith. Producers spoke up in a feature in yesterday's Times on how to make straight plays pay in the West End.
It's clear that fine actors who aren't star names -- Michael Pennington, for instance, or Antony Sher -- do not guarantee box office success, and Nica Burns bemoans the fact that a pair of Ronald Harwood plays that she imported from Chichester with strong reviews and ensemble casts did not take off.
Instead, they were taken off, but only after the noble Nica ran them for the whole of the cast contract at a huge personal loss (noble Nica became nobbled Nica): "You just can't get the press interested in ensembles," she says, contradicting herself, as if it were all out fault, despite the reviews. The fact is, the public are only interested in something like a Ronald Harwood play if Albert Finney is in it (as he used to be, regularly). They're too boring. And it's a highly moot point if even Jerusalem would have been a hit had not Mark Rylance broken through at last -- and probably for just that play -- into something like stardom. He's still not a household name.
In the case of Noises Off, it's undoubtedly the play making the running, not the actors. There's no "name" recognition in the cast for the elderly Old Vic audience, few of whom would even link Celia Imrie with Absolutely Fabulous or Dinner Ladies on television. I had no idea, until I read the programme, that Amy Nuttall, who plays the dumb ingenue in plum underwear, was in Downton Abbey.
Which is why David Suchet appearing soon in Long Day's Journey Into Night is a no-brainer. He's not only a high profile copper-bottomed star name because of Poirot on television; he's also a brilliant stage actor, and it's no accident at all that he should follow his great performance in one Olivier role a few years back (in Rattigan's Man and Boy) with what might well be another in a second great Olivier role, James Tyrone.
It's only when they get to the theatre that the audience will realise that the play lasts three hours; but, if it's good, they can congratulate themselves even more for having sat through it and survived. And on having seen a genuine star performance from someone they love and recognise.
- by Michael Coveney
Any opinions expressed above do not represent the view of Whatsonstage.com nor any of its staff or contributors beyond the bylined author.
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| Shakespeare's global birthday bash - 23rd Apr 2012 blog |
| Spinning a yarn, or telling the truth? - 19th Apr 2012 blog |
| Michael Coveney: Oliviers 2012 Blog - Rice adds class - 16th Apr 2012 blog |
| More awards & May poles - 13th Apr 2012 blog |
| Suchet such a nice guy - 11th Apr 2012 blog |
| Holiday heave-ho: more privacy pleas(e) - 9th Apr 2012 blog |
| Bees in my Easter bonnet - 5th Apr 2012 blog |
| Miller's tale of yielding - 4th Apr 2012 blog |
| | More... |
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| Internal Links |
| Boss Blog: WOS 15th birthday: Reporting on the Oliviers over the years - 24th Apr 2012 blog |
| WOS Radio: Bean's Guvnors gets more giggles at Q&A - 12th Apr 2012 radio |
| Arthur & Co. serve up more laughs at One Man, Two Guvnors Q&A - 12th Apr 2012 blog |
| Live Tweeting: Last night's Club Outing to One Man, Two Guvnors - 11th Apr 2012 news |
| Noises Off (Novello)  - 4th Apr 2012 reviews |
| Matilda, Guvnors & Constellations compete at South Bank Awards - 2nd Apr 2012 news |
| Wyatt & Garcia front dance Revolution, Sundays at Haymarket - 2nd Apr 2012 news |
| WOS Award winner Richard Bean joins Heart of the West End panel - 20th Mar 2012 news |
| The Ladykillers embarks on UK tour from Plymouth, 14 Sep - 19th Mar 2012 news |
| Matilda, Guvnors & Ladykillers lead the field at 2012 Oliviers - 15th Mar 2012 news |
| 1st Night Photos: S Club party at One Man Haymarket opening - 14th Mar 2012 photos |
| One Man, Two Guvnors (Haymarket) - 14th Mar 2012 reviews |
| Hannah Spearritt: Why You Should Come & See ... One Man, Two Guvnors - 12th Mar 2012 interviews |
| Show Pics: New One Man, Two Guvnors photos, royal visit - 7th Mar 2012 photos |
| Photos: New cast rehearse One Man, Two Guvnors - 14th Feb 2012 photos |
| Old Vic's Noises Off transfers to Novello, 24 March - 3rd Feb 2012 news |
| Ladykillers set to leave West End but could return, says producer - 25th Jan 2012 news |
| Prenger & Spearritt join Haymarket cast of One Man, Two Guvnors - 20th Jan 2012 news |
| Queues On the Avenue - 6th Jan 2012 blog |
| WOS Theatregoers Make Noises at the Old Vic - 5th Jan 2012 blog |
| Plays Extend: Noises Off, Lion in Winter Adds Matinee - 5th Jan 2012 news |
| Review Round-up: Noises Off Are All Positive for Old Vic - 14th Dec 2011 roundup |
| 1st Night Photos: Posner Revives Noises Off at Old Vic - 14th Dec 2011 photos |
| Noises Off - 14th Dec 2011 reviews |
| Opening: Dublin Carol, Noises Off & Brandreth as Bracknell - 12th Dec 2011 news |
| The Ladykillers - 8th Dec 2011 reviews |
| 1st Night Photos: Brydon Braves West End Ladykillers - 8th Dec 2011 photos |
| Review Round-up: Glowing Response for Linehan's Ladykillers - 8th Dec 2011 roundup |
| WOS Radio: Theatregoers Get Up Close to Ladykillers - 1st Dec 2011 radio |
| Show Pics: Ladykillers Make Liverpool Debut Ahead of West End - 9th Nov 2011 photos |
| Plays Cast: Grandage's Farewell Richard II, Old Vic Noises - 7th Oct 2011 news |
| Frayn's Noises Off Revived at Old Vic for Christmas - 9th Sep 2011 news |
| Yes, Prime Minister Moves Back to Gielgud, 20 Sep - 5th Aug 2011 news |
| Producers Hopeful for Tenor Transfer Come Dec - 6th Jun 2011 news |
| Ladykillers Jump the Gun - 6th Jun 2011 blog |
| Linehan's Ladykillers Come to West End, 7 Dec - 6th Jun 2011 news |
