Campbell & Bradley Take Noises Off on 2003 TourDate: 11 November 2002
The National Theatre's revival of Michael Frayn's classic backstage farce Noises Off will embark on a six-month UK tour in the new year. With a new cast featuring Paul Bradley, Cheryl Campbell, Philip Franks and Sylvester McCoy, the touring production will open at Bromley's Churchill Theatre on 27 January 2003 before continuing until 26 July to 24 further venues.
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 production first opened in October 2000 to rave reviews at the National Theatre and had an eight-week national tour before transferring to the West End's Piccadilly Theatre in May 2001 and then, in February 2002, to the Comedy Theatre, where it closed on 20 July 2002.
Cheryl Campbell follows the likes of Patricia Hodge, Lynn Redgrave, Isla Blair and Selina Cadell into the role of down-on-her-luck star Dotty Otley. Campbell's recent West End credits include Life After George, Passion Play, The Seagull and Volpone.
Best known from his role in TV's Eastenders, Bradley (who plays Frederick Fellowes) has recently been seen on stage in The Relapse, Wind in the Willows, The Threesome, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Pirates of Penzance. Philip Franks' (Lloyd Dallas) stage credits include Art, Marat/Sade, The Importance of Being Earnest, Ivanov and Hamlet, while former Dr Who Sylvester McCoy (Selsdon Mowsbray) can currently be seen in Live from Golgotha at London's Drill Hall.
Noises Off is directed by Jeremy Sams and designed by Robert Jones. Following Bromley, the tour will visit Salford, Oxford, Newcastle, Stratford, Darlington, Brighton, Stoke, Woking, Cardiff, Richmond, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Milton Keynes, with further tour stops and casting details still to be confirmed.
- by Terri Paddock
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