Cadell Plays Dotty in Newly Cast Noises at ComedyDate: 24 January 2002
Selina Cadell will follow in the footsteps of Patricia Hodge, Lynn Redgrave and Isla Blair playing the role of Dotty Otley in the West End production of Noises Off.
The revival of Michael Frayn's award-winning comedy finishes an eight-month run at the Piccadilly Theatre this weekend, before reopening on 7 March 2002 (previews from 20 February - as opposed to the earlier announced start date of 8 February), when Cadell will lead an all-new cast which also includes Derek Griffiths (as Frederick Fellowes) and Malcolm Tierney (as Selsdon Mowbray).
Cadell (pictured) is a familiar TV face from her appearances in series such as French and Saunders, Jonathan Creek, People Like Us and Midsomer Murders. Her stage credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Stanley.
Griffiths' many recent stage credits include Beauty and the Beast (Dominion), Miss Saigon (Drury Lane), Loot and Nude with Violin (both at Manchester's Royal Exchange), Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night (both for the RSC). Tierney has appeared in feature films like Bravehart and In the Name of the Father; on television, in Nicholas Nickleby and Dalziel and Pascoe; and on stage, in Les Blancs (Royal Exchange) and Wit.
Also joining the Comedy company of Noises Off will be Nick Bagnall (as Tim Allgood), Tessa Churchard (Poppy Norton-Taylor), Pandora Clifford (Brooke Ashton), Julia Deakin (Belinda Blair), Nicolas Jones (Lloyd Dallas) and Paul Thorney, who previously played Tim Allgood and will now take on the part of Garry Lejeune.
Noises Off is considered one of the great comic hits of the 1980s. The backstage imbroglio follows a touring company who mount a chaotic production of a trouser-dropping farce calling Nothing On. Amongst all the confusion, frayed tempers, broken hearts and off-stage explosions, can the show go on? Noises Off was first produced at the West End's Savoy Theatre in 1982, when it won the Olivier for Best Comedy and went on to run for five years.
The current revival played at the NT Lyttelton from October 2000 to 20 February 2001 before a regional tour and subsequent transfer to the Piccadilly on 14 May 2001 (previews from 3 May). In November 2001, the show - starring Patti Lupone - opened on Broadway, where it broke non-musical box office records, taking $300,000 in a single day at the box office.
Noises Off is directed by Jeremy Sams and designed by Robert Jones, with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by Fergus O'Hare. It's presented at the Comedy Theatre by Sonia Friedman on behalf of the Ambassador Theatre Group.
- by Terri Paddock
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