Theater Reviews

Nov 13, 2005 - "Noises Off" - Nevada Rep's old college try proves some plays don't improve with age

By Jack Neal

Much like New York Magazine's theater critic John Simon, who hated "Spamelot" so much he retired, the much loved British, New York and movie hit "Noises Off " has never struck me as a comedic idea funny enough to be stretched into a three act play.

What would be hilarious as a Saturday Night Live sketch becomes tedious after two hours and counting of Keystone Cop action. Be that as it may, playwright Michael Frayn's backstage farce opened Friday night (11/11/05) as part of the Nevada Repertory Company's season and was greeted by a howling, nearly capacity audience that shrieked and bellowed at all the highjinks Mr. Frayn and director Jim Bernardi have collectively cooked up.

For those who like low highjinks and other kinds of screwball shenanigans, "Noises Off" can be seen at the Redfield Proscenium Theatre on the University of Nevada, Reno campus through Sunday (11/20/05).

The plot swirls around a hapless troupe of actors attempting to tour in a show called "Nothing On". They can't remember lines, can't find props and never get the right cue for an entrance or exit and generally drive their director, played by an animated Tony DeGeiso, nuts. During acts one and three the audience pretty much sees what audiences pretty much always see, and that is the frontside of a set with players acting out for an audience what a playwright pretty much has written.

Act two is the backside of the set where actors can be seen coming and going, and - in the case of "Noises Off" - fighting every inch of the way. Pants are dropped, skirts are torn off, sight gags flourish - a great fall down lots of stairs by a beleaugered Ryan Palomo. That fall is worth the price of admission, but it comes in Act III and that s a long wait for impatient playgoers.

So what's a director to do with material like this?

Other than choosing another play, exactly what Jim Bernardi and other directors worth their salt have done. Pull out all stops (even more for an Act II that sags). Bravo for a fast pace and so many sight gags the language could be Portuguese and viewers would still get the point. The language isn't Portuguese but it might just as will be. It sounds like the heaviest of cockney (not really true, of course), and - with no Professor Higgins in sight to make sense out of the vocal mayhem - What's a mother to do?

Read on.

The pitch is high, the language is low, the acting is broad, the Greg Artman set is terrific, and the actors do their jobs with relish (and lots of other condiments).

Evonne Kezios is the maid made in hell and she s fabulous. Tony DeGeiso is the harassed director who barks orders with enough wattage to electrocute a small town. Stuntman (all those stairs and that wonderful fall) Ryan Palomo plays opposite Hana Freeman, the play's ingenue-cum-silly, and they're an out-to-lunch couple with the expected nobody-home-upstairs results. Like Little Orphan Annie, a blank eyed Kirk Gardner plays opposite a hoity-toity April Clelia Grenot (a perfect Marx Brothers foil) to win the show's vacuous couple award. Scott House is the play's play-within-a-play burglar and he s adroitly adept at being inept. Elizabeth Mathews and Donald Pettit are paired as the dingbat backstage twosome who attempt to keep the troupe on target and they're as bull's-eye challenged a duo as I've seen.

If Mother Nature can t be fooled, audiences out for a carefree good time are more than willing. "Noises Off" is proof of that pudding and director Jim Bernardi is the chef with the recipe for making Michael Frayn's frenetically off-the-walls batch of pudding work.

The Nevada Repertory Company's "Noises Off" can be seen at the Redfield Proscenium Theatre on the University of Nevada, Reno campus, 900 North Virginia Street, Reno, November 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, and 19 (2005) at 7:30 p.m. and November 20 (2005) at 1:30 p.m. For information and tickets call 1-800-225-227 or visit the Nevada Repertory Company s website at www.unr.edu/nevadarep.