A Noise

Within
Study
Guide

Noises Off
Costume Design by Soojin Lee

On the Wings of Fate! 09/10 Season

 Table of Contents

3 Cast of Characters
4 Synopsis
6 About the Playwright
7 Viewing a Farce From Behind
9 Of Stage Directions and Metafarce:
Michael Frayn and Noises Off
11 Farce in History
12 Farce: Commedia dell’arte
15 Complete Program for Nothing On
20 Language Arts: British Vocabulary
22 Noises Off: The Jokes
24 Umm…Where?
Costume Design by Soojin Lee

25 Visual Arts
27 Music
29 Resources
30 About Theatre Arts
31 About A Noise Within

Special thanks to Amanda Fink and Katerina Schmidt.

Articles used with permission from Trinity Repertory Company, 2001. By Pamela Ward.

Funding for A Noise Within’s Educational Programs is provided in part by:

The Ahmanson Foundation, Alliance for the Advancement of Arts Education, The Annenberg Foundation,
Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, B.C. McCabe Foundation, Anonymous, The Capital Group Companies,
The Catherine C. Demeter Foundation, DLA Piper, Disney Worldwide Outreach, Employees Community Fund of Boeing
California, The Green Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Glendale, Lockheed Financial Credit Union, Los Angeles Breakfast
Club Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Metropolitan Associates, National Endowment for the Arts-
Shakespeare for a New Generation, The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation,
Steinmetz Foundation, The Waterman Foundation, Weingart Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, WWW Foundation.

2 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

Cast of Characters

NOISES OFF CAST OF CHARACTERS

Lloyd Dallas, the temperamental director of Nothing On.

Dotty Otley, a clumsy, scatterbrained actress
Garry Lejeune, an easily (over) excited actor
Frederick Fellows, an anxious, nosebleed-prone actor
Belinda Blair, an optimistic actress
Poppy Norton-Taylor, the high-strung assistant stage manager
Selsdon Mowbray, an aged, alcoholic actor
Timothy Allgood, the often absent stage manager
Brooke Ashton, the inexperienced ingénue actress

Cast of Nothing On
Costume Design by Soojin Lee
Mrs Clackett (Dotty), the Brent family’s housekeeper
Roger (Garry), the real estate agent
Vicky (Brooke), a tax collector for Inland Revenue
Philip Brent (Fred), lives out of the country to dodge his taxes
Flavia Brent (Belinda), Philip’s wife
Burglar (Selsdon)

3 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

About the Play: Synopsis

ACT ONE
Noises Off opens during the final dress rehearsal of the play within
the play, Nothing On. It is mere hours before the opening of the
premiere of the British farce at the Grand Theatre in Weston-Super-
Mare, England.

The play is in shambles, much to the dismay of director Lloyd

Dallas who is at his wit’s end—halting the show every few lines to
correct the fumbling and sometimes missing actors. The actors
themselves are greatly distracted by personal problems ranging
from divorce, illicit love affairs, alcoholism, missing contact lenses,
and a good number of nosebleeds. Coupled with these personal
challenges, it is clear that actors cannot remember lines, entrances,
exits, blocking, and in the case of Brooke—what the play is about
or what she is doing. Actor Garry Lejeune claims to be unaware
that the rehearsal is indeed a final dress rehearsal, claiming that
“we’re all thinking of it as the technical”.

Lloyd Dallas patiently sits in the darkened auditorium, shouting

directions to the befuddled cast.

ACT TWO
For this act, the real audience sits backstage as the set has been
turned 180 degrees during the intermission. We can hear actors
performing the play Nothing On as they face the back wall of
the real theatre, and our view is restricted to the back side of the
actors and scenery flats.

4 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 The play has been on the road for one month now, and the
production chaos continues. The quality of interpersonal
relationships and acting performances have deteriorated
significantly. Garry and Dotty, who had previously been in a
relationship, are at odds after Garry sees Dotty flirting with
the clueless Frederick. Both Garry and Dotty initially refuse
to perform, locking themselves in their respective dressing
rooms. Poppy, the assistant stage manager, is pregnant,
and actor Selsdon Mowbray is trying to stay sober in
between scenes.

Although once a show has been launched the director’s job

is ended, Lloyd returns in order to comfort his lover—actor
Brooke Ashton. He enters and immediately encounters
Tim. Wishing to avoid seeing Poppy, he instructs Tim to
lie and say that he is still away directing a production of
Richard III in Wales. Lloyd then sends Tim to buy flowers
that he might take to Brooke during intermission, giving
Tim special directions not to let Poppy see the flowers.

Confusion ensues, as Selsdon appears in and out of the

woman’s bathroom in order to sneak slugs of whiskey,
the front of house calls have been repeated out of order
countless times, and Frederick begins another nosebleed.
Much to Lloyd’s dismay, Poppy sees the flowers intended
for Brooke. Garry attempts to murder Frederick, as Dotty
makes matters worse. All of these personal struggles occur
at the same time as the performance of Nothing On — or
at least a new version of the play. Most of the actors, in a
state of heightened agitation, miss entrances, flub lines, as
the performance runs amok.

ACT THREE
Yet another month later, the tour of Nothing On is reaching an end.
The audience is re-oriented to be sitting in front of the stage once
more, as the set has again been turned 180 degrees.

Tim opens Act Three, apologizing to the audience for the delay in
starting the production of Nothing On, while several cast members
shriek behind the curtain. The personal drama between the actors
seems to have reached a fever pitch.

When Nothing On finally begins, it’s only vaguely reminiscent of

the show we’ve seen in the last two acts. However, the ramshackle
bunch somehow manages to carry it off with numerous additions,
deletions, and improvisatory bits.

The miserable group manages to scrape by to the last line: “When

all around is strife and uncertainty, there’s nothing like a good old-
fashioned plate of curtain!”❖

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About the Playwright

Michael Frayn was born September 8, 1933 in Ewell,

a suburb of London. He began his education at the
prestigious Kingston Grammar School. However, after the
death of Frayn’s mother when he was twelve, his father,
a representative for an asbestos and roofing agency,
could no longer afford his schooling. He transferred to a
less expensive public school but continued to shine as an
academic success and, from an early age, he demonstrated
great artistic tendencies for writing and music. After
graduation, Frayn served two years in the National Service,
where he learned Russian and later served as a translator.
Following the army, he was admitted to the University of
Cambridge and graduated with a degree in “moral sciences”
— essentially Philosophy — in 1957.

Frayn found almost instant success after college as a

journalist for The Guardian and The Observer, which he used
as a platform to launch himself into the literary worlds of
novels and plays. He published three novels before 1970 (The
Tin Men, The Russian Interpreter, and A Very Private Life) but
his foray into playwriting was a bit more protracted. He tried
his hand at writing a short script for an evening of one-acts,
but his producer rejected the plan. Unabashed, Frayn simply
decided to write more scripts and produce his own evening
of short plays resulting in The Two of Us (1970) starring
Richard Briars and Lynne Redgrave. The production was
reportedly so badly received that audience members spat on
Frayn as they passed him in the street after opening night.

However, Fryan’s next effort, Alphabetical Order (1972), a

typically British office comedy, was an overwhelming success,
earning him rave reviews and the Evening Standard Award
for “Best Comedy of the Year.” He wrote two more comedies
in the same style, Clouds (1976) and Make or Break (1980)
which won him the Evening Standard again. He is best known
for his farces, Donkey’s Year (1977), and especially Noises
Off! (1982) which garnered him a third Evening Standard and
a four-year run on the West End.

Frayn’s more recent works have received much critical

acclaim, most notably, Copenhagen (1998), a drama which
re-imagines the infamous meeting of physicists Nils Bohr and
Werner Heisenberg in 1941. He has also written several more
one-acts, novels, and screenplays and has earned respect and
accolades in every genre. He is noted to be one of Britain’s
foremost translators of Chekhov. He is still writing and lives
in England with his wife, biographer and journalist, Claire
Tomalin. ❖

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Viewing a Farce from Behind:
The comedy hit Noises Off is a triumph of slapstick choreography

By Denise Worrell, Time, January 30, 1984

Each night at 10:45, crowds stream out of Broadway’s Brooks

Atkinson Theater limp and disheveled, gasping for breath and
wiping their eyes. Much as they may appear to be fleeing tear
gas or a smoke bomb, these people are in fact the happy victims
of a very different kind of explosion. They have just spent more
than two hours howling and guffawing at Noises Off, the farce by
Britain’s Michael Frayn that is the
comedy hit of the season. The
show recounts the misadventures
of a troupe of fifth-rate actors as
they perform a sex farce titled
Nothing On during a fleabag
provincial tour. The plot of Nothing
On involves a ditzy maid in an
English country house, a wayward
plate of sardines, an illicit couple,
a licit couple dodging the taxman,
a sheik and a bibulous burglar.
Doors slam (the set contains seven
of them) and trousers drop with
dizzying abandon.

In theater parlance, Noises Off

refers to the commotion in the
wings. In Frayn’s play, the Noises
Off are the backstage yelps and
battle cries of the actors, who are
entangled in a sex farce of their
Costume Design by Soojin Lee

own. Frayn’s most novel stroke

is to set his second act behind
the scenes at a performance of
Nothing On. While the players on
the far side of the scenery invisibly
sing out their lines, those on
the near side conduct a frenzied
pantomime with a wine bottle, a
cactus plant, bouquets of flowers,
a fireman’s ax, shoelaces tied together and assorted other slapstick
paraphernalia. It is a pas de neuf so ingeniously choreographed that
the antics in the back-to-back farces coincide precisely, while lines
of dialogue interlock in mid-air.

The idea for Noises Off occurred to Frayn, 50, a well-known British
farceur and satirist, one night in 1970 as he stood in the wings of a
London theater watching a performance of a quick-change, arms-
flapping farce he had written for Lynn Redgrave and Richard Briers.
“It was funnier from behind than in front,” recalls Frayn, “and I
thought, ‘One day I must write a farce from behind.’”

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 When he finally got around to it, the play
cost him a year of agonizing effort. “I
didn’t know if actors would even be able
to perform it,” says Frayn. “If I could have
thought of a way to write a program for
the second act, I would have learned to
use a computer. Instead, I just had to try
to remember where all nine actors and
all the characters in Nothing On were at
every moment. I often felt that I had come
to the end of the bytes in my brain, that I
had exceeded the capacity of my memory
store.”
When he could fiddle with it no more,
Frayn sent a copy of Noises Off to his
friend Michael Blakemore, an Australian-
born director who had staged Frayn’s 1980
comedy Make and Break as well as several
notable productions at Britain’s National
Theater. Blakemore came up with such good
suggestions for staging that Frayn rewrote
most of the play. It worked. Noises Off
opened sensationally in London two years
ago and has been playing to packed houses
ever since.
The physically demanding farce, however,
has already exhausted two sets of actors
and is currently wearing down a third.
Blakemore rehearsed two of the three
London casts and so was well prepared
when he arrived in New York to train the
Broadway team for a December opening:
he brought his whistle. Says he: “Once the
rehearsal for the second act gets started,
there is terrific noise on one side of the
backdrop and tremendous physical energy
on the other. It is like a motor car out of
control and very hard to bring to a stop, so I
have to use a whistle.”
The Broadway players were suitably
daunted by exacting the precision of
Blakemore’s instructions and Frayn’s stage
directions (the script for the second act has
two columns to describe the simultaneous
goings-on of the two farces). Says Actress
Deborah Rush, who plays a spaced-out tax
auditor in Nothing On: “They knew just
how many breaths were required between
8 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
the opening and closing of a door.”
Brian Murray, the beleaguered director
of Nothing On, recalls that just before
rehearsals began, “Michael Blakemore
called us together and told us that in two
weeks we’d wish we were dead.”
In the second act, the play-within-a-play is
like a metronome. Says Paxton Whitehead,
who plays the dithery tax dodger of
Nothing On: “Everything in the front of
the set is timed to the voices in the back.
We always have to have the third ear
out.” Murray recalls one occasion when
Victor Garber, portraying a lecherous real
estate agent in Nothing On, inadvertently
placed the prop wine bottle two inches
away from its appointed spot: “This meant
that Douglas Seale [the pixilated burglar]
couldn’t reach it. Doug brushed it, knocked
it over. I reached for it, fumbled it and
dropped it between us. We’re talking a
couple of inches, but that’s crucial. The
audience is suspended on a tightrope with
us. If we stop, they lose their involvement.”
The comic havoc of Noises Off means peril
at every step for the actors. Says Garber,
who somersaults down a flight of stairs
into a pratfall every night: “I still say a
little prayer each time I begin.” Dorothy
Loudon, the maid in Nothing On, has lost
25 lbs., suffered two broken toes and two
bruised ribs, and has a trachea infection
from the strain on her voice. “I’m so black
and blue I haven’t worn a dress in weeks,”
she says. Linda Thorson, whose Nothing
On role is the tax dodger’s wife, has lost 10
lbs. Virtually all the cast have cuts, bruises
or splinters to show for their pains, and
Seale, 70, has developed bursitis in his
knee. Whitehead sums up the experience
by telling the story of a man who went to
visit Edmund Gwenn as the vintage actor
languished on his deathbed. “It must be
hard, very hard, Ed,” the friend offered.
“It is,” Gwenn replied. “But not as hard as
farce.” And not nearly as funny. ❖
Of Stage Directions and Metafarce:
Michael Frayn and Noises Off
by Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr., Loyola Marymount University
It seems appropriate that a theatre
company named after a stage direction
is performing a play named after a stage
direction, both of which implying the same
thing: that noises heard from offstage augur
things about to influence the
onstage action.
Michael Frayn was best known as a novelist,
a translator of Chekhov and a writer of
one-acts when, in 1982 he wrote
Noises Off. The idea for it was born
in 1970, when Frayn was standing in
the wings watching a performance
Noises Off... of Chinamen, a farce that he
a “metafarce”: had written for Lynn Redgrave.
According to the playwright, “It was
a farce about funnier from behind than in front
and I thought that one day I must
putting on a write a farce from behind.” In 1977
he wrote a one-act called “Exits”
farce. which was subsequently expanded
into a full length play that was
consequently rewritten several times
until the cast rebelled at having to
learn new lines every few weeks.
Frayn was, however, able to rewrite
the play for its American premiere in
Washington and then again for Broadway.
Since the early eighties the play has been
an international hit, running in France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Japan, China,
and the Czech Republic, among others,
followed by West End and Broadway
revivals in 2000. Noises Off, despite its
complexity and the near virtuosity of timing
required to perform,
has also been a staple of university, high
school and community theatres, at least
partly because the inspired silliness of the
show never fails to generate at least grins
if not full, long laughs.
9 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
We might note that the play represents
three major and interrelated tropes within
the theatre. First is the fascination with
the private lives of actors and artists,
alongside the exploration of how art is
made. Noises Off is related to such plays as
Ronald Harwood’s The Dresser and Jeffrey
Hatcher’s Compleat Female Stage Beauty.
Films as well have made the backstage lives
of actors the center subject, from George
Cukor’s The Royal Family of Broadway
(1930), A Double Life (1947), and The
Actress (1953), to more recent films such as
Christopher Guest’s Waiting for Guffman
(1996), Kenneth Branagh’s A Midwinter’s
Tale (1995) and Hamlet 2 (2008), not to
mention Oscar winner Shakespeare in Love.
In all of these plays and films, the process
of creating a production is examined
and the foibles, flaws and amusing
idiosyncrasies of the actors and artists
who make theatre are revealed, often
for comic effect. Romance between the
actors and artists, the insanity of the
rehearsal process and the many crises
that erupt in production are placed center
stage in this genre.
Related to the first trope is the trope
of metatheatre. Coined by critic Lionel
Abel, the term metatheatre refers to
characters and texts that are aware of
their own theatricality. Within the theatre
itself metatheatre refers to plays about
theatre, especially those which points out
the theatricality of life. From the Greeks,
where Euripides’ Bacchae and Sophocles’
Elektra contain characters aware that they
are performing a role and draw attention
to their “costumes”, “props” and their
performances, to Shakespeare, whose
Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
are the poster plays for metatheatre,
 to contemporary plays such as Terence Farce in the United Kingdom often
McNally’s It’s Only a Play and Monty manifests itself as British sex comedy such
Python’s Spamalot, the theatre has, since as Shut Your Eyes and Think of England,
its inception, presented theatre and No Sex Please, We’re British and its sequel
performing on stage to comment both on Sex, Please, We’re Italian. Perhaps the
the very human yet very strange practice best known manifestation of British farce
of making believe as well as the theatrical in the United States would be Benny
nature of life. Hill. It is out of this tradition and these
three tropes that Michael Frayn offers
The third and final trope, also related to the Noises Off, a “metafarce”: a farce about
first two is less a trope than a subgenre of putting on a farce. Over the course of
comedy: farce. Farce is designed to make the play the audience watches a fourth-
an audience laugh through improbably rate ensemble cast rehearse and perform
situations, ridiculous characters and even a sex farce, Nothing On, as it, and they,
more ridiculous coincidences. slowly deconstruct. Thus Frayn gives the
experience of watching both the backstage
Farce is also frequently fraught with sexual and onstage action and setting up several
innuendo and the bedroom farce with its levels of action, to the point where the
slamming doors, misidentification of lovers, audience receives a program (complete
bedswapping, and fear of being caught with performer bios) for the play within the
make it one of the most popular forms. play. It is this metafarce which raises Frayn’s
Perfected, perhaps, by the French and play above the previously mentioned sex
Italian playwrights such as Moliere (Tartuffe, comedies and transforms it into a complex
The Imaginary Invalid, etc.), considered symphony of comedy. ❖
the father of farce, and his heirs such as
Georges Feydeau (A Flea in Her Ear, Hotel
Paradise, etc.) and
Eugene LaBiche
(An Italian Straw
Hat) and even
Steve Martin in
his incarnation as
a playwright (The
Underpants) and
Neil Simon (Rumors)
present absurd,
fast, frantic
situations with
witty and slow
individuals,
combined with
broad physical comedy.

1 0 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

Farce in History

“The fear that Society as Farce

Christopher Innes, Modern British Drama,1992
haunts the
Farce, with its roots in the satyr plays in Classical Greexe and
cast is that the the physical comedy of medieval playlets, has traditionally
unlearned and focused on conjugal conflicrt and infidelity. Over the nineteenth
century in became a tool for social satire in the vaudevilles
unrehearsed — of Labiche, which caricatured the rising French upper class’s
pursuit of marriage money, and the increasingly cynical
the great dark bedroom comedies of the times that used the spectacle of
sexual hypocrisy to expose social snobbery.
chaos behind
Its physical action and hectic pacing produced a picture of man
the set, inside as the helpless victim of circumstances, trapped by objects
the heart and as much as social conventions, that was particularly suited to
silent film, and reached its high point in the clowning of the
brain — will sleep Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin. At the same
time, farce has tended to come to the fore front in periods of
back on to the conspicuous materialism, or when sharp social divisions are in a
process of breaking down.
stage…Their
performance will
break down, and Farce in Noises Off
Noises Off established Frayn as a farceur of the highest order.
they will be left in To that end, the playwright told Los Angeles Times reporter
Barbara Isenberg that farce is serious business. It’s most
front of us naked important element, he explained, is “the losing of power for
and ashamed.” coherent thought under the pressure of events.”

—Michael Frayn What characters in farce do traditionally is try to recover some

disaster that occurred, by a course of behavior that is so ill-
judged that it makes it worse. In traditional farce, people are
caught in a compromising situation, try to explain it with a
lie and, when they get caught, have then to explain both the
original situation and the lie. And when they’re caught in that
lie, they have to have another one.

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Farce: Commedia dell’arte
Arlecchino
Columbina
CLASSROOM CONNECTION
Examine the Commedia
dell’arte character types
listed here. Ask students to
identify which characters in
Noises Off are most closely
related to each. What about
other characters in movies
or television—are there
examples of Commedia
dell’arte characters in
modern entertainment they
can identify?
1 2 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
Pantalone Dottore Il Capitano Pulcinella
Tartaglia Scaramuccia The Inamorati
COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE: The Origins of Farce
Commedia dell’ Arte was originally an Italian outdoor theatrical
from that flourished during the Renaissance. Translated into
English, the name becomes “Comedy of the (performers’) art.”
Essentially a low comic form, Commedia dell’ Arte was popular
with all classes including nobility. Because of its popularity,
Commedia dell’arte troupes traveled widely outside Italy. By about
1750, troupes were venturing into all of Europe, influencing theater
in Spain, Germany, Holland, Austria, England, and France. The
form settled in France, where it became the Comedie-Italienne;
it was this form that Moliere used as the basis for much of his
work. In England, Commedia dell’arte became the Harlequinade,
Pantomime and the Punch-and-Judy show.
Commedia dell’arte is a form of improvisational comedy, in which
the performers use scenario in outline form as the basis for their
performance. A professional troupe would have a week or so to
 improvise and create an entire performance from a new set of
stage directions. In the first troupes’ work, many performers wore
masks to enhance their portrayal of a specific character. Stock
masks were later developed, as were certain character types. These
stock masks would indicate well-known characters to the audience,
and the responsibility for portrayal of these characters was given to
the most talented players.

Commedia dell’arte bases its charms on the use of free

improvisation. So-called “free” improvisation is free in the sense
that it is not codified, but it does follow some precise rules, and
it needs skilled and well trained actors to work. Each Commedia
dell’arte troupe has a set of stock scenarios, commonplace books
of soliloquies and witty exchanges, and about a dozen actors.
There was some double-casting, but most players developed an
expertise for playing one particular character.

Commedia also incorporates the skills of acrobats, medieval

mimes and the jesters of the early 1500’s. These skills required
a professional vocation commitment from its performers and
signaled and end to the age of amateur performance with its static
expressionless dialogue. Above all, Commedia dell’Arte was a
performer’s theater; the players had to be inventive and competent
in order to create performances that were consistently fresh and
distinctive.

Characters in Commedia dell’arte

Many of the characters in Noises Off are relatives of the characters

Costume Design by Soojin Lee

in Commedia dell’arte, and some of these stock character types

are still in use today.

Zanni (The Italian nickname for Giovanni) can refer to either

the character servant of the Commedia dell’arte or various
stereotypical servant characters of the same genre. The character
of Zanni was an older poor man who was the hired servant of
another character, typically Pantalone.
Later, the character fell into disuse and the word “zanni” came
to encompass all comic servant characters including Harlequin or
Arlecchino, Brighella, Coviello, Pedrolino, Pulcinella, Pierrot, and
Trivelino.

Pantalone (Pants) is a stock character, one of the vecchi—or “old

men.” He is a miserly and often lecherous character who usually
hails from Venice. Traditional actions and comic pratfalls for
Pantalone are commonplace, and include:

• Pantalone has a heart attack and his servant attempts to save

him by various means.
• Pantalone is knocked over and has to be helped up.

Il Dottore (The Doctor) is another stock character from the

“vecchi” category. His function in a scenario is to be an obstacle
to the young lovers. Il Dottore is usually angry and intrusive. He
doesn’t listen to anyone else, and claims to know about everything
about medicine and law. He is very rich, generally with “old” family

1 3 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 money. This makes him pompous and hard to argue with. He
makes many cruel jokes about the opposite sex. An obese man, he
enjoys drinking and eating to excess.

Il Capitano (The Captain) uses bravado and excessive manliness to

that he is really a coward. A foreigner he is mostly portrayed as a
Spaniard, this is because the majority of the Renaissance Italy was
under Spanish control. Il Capitano often makes up elaborate tales
of war and bravery, that no one around him believes. He is also
very greedy and would sell his loyalty to the highest bidder.

Columbina (Little Dove) is a comic servant to the young Inamorata.

(See below.) She is dressed in rags, but looks appropriate enough
to be a hired servant. Occasionally called Arlecchina, she wears
heavy makeup around her eyes and carries a tambourine which she
could use to fend off the amorous advances of lecherous men. She
was often the smartest character onstage. Columbina would help
her mistress the Inamorata win her true love by tricking her father
(Pantalone). She is a flirtatious and sassy character, but never lacks
good judgment.

Pulcinella, often called Punch or Punchinello in English, was well

known for his long nose which looked like a beak. In Latin, the term
was a pullus gallinaceus, which led to the word “Pulliciniello” and
“Pulcinella”.
Scaramuccia, aka Scaramouche, is a clown character who wears a
black mask and black trousers, shirt and hat. The name derives from
the Italian “scaramuccia” meaning “skirmish”. Usually a boastful
buffoon, Scaramouche is one of the characters in the Punch and
Judy puppet shows. In some scenarios, he owns a Dog, which
is another stock character. During performances, Punch usually
Commedia dell’arte mask
hits Scaramouche, causing his head to come off of his shoulders.
Because of this, the term “scaramouche” has become associated
with a class of puppets with extendable necks.

Tartaglia is a minor character who is short sighted and with a

terrible stutter. His social status varies quite often — he can be a
bailiff, lawyer, notary or chemist.

The Innamorati The young male and female lovers. These consisted
of several characters: Isabella, Lelio, Flavio and Vittoria.  Since
there are so many more of them their characters were never fully
developed, but they are typically featured in some sort of romantic
entanglement, often alongside Pantalone. ❖

1 4 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

Complete Program for Nothing On

✩ ✩ ✩ G ra n d T h eatre ✩✩✩✩
✩ UPER-MARE
WESTON-S
per-Mare) Limited
op rie to rs : Gr an d Theatre (Weston-su
Pr E.A GRADSHAW
General Manager: E. the Grand Group
W es to n- su pe r-M are is a Member of
The Grand Theatre
boration with Ots tar Productions Ltd.
A Noise Within in colla s
proudly present

DOTTY OTLEY
RRY LEJEUNE
BELINDA BLAIR GA
in

ONGER
by ROBIN HOUSEM
FELLOWES
with

AY BR O O KE AS HTON FREDRICK
SELSDON MOW BR
ALLAS
Directed by LLOYD D
Costumes by PATSY
HEMMING
RO D W RAY
Designed by GINA BO
XHALL Ligh tin g by

E P R IO R TO N AT IO N A L TO UR!
WORLD PREMIE R Sunday November
15th
14th and
Saturday November
DITORIUM
RMITTED IN THE AU
SMOKING IS NOT PE ers is forbidden. The management reserve
s the
and tape record e cast which may
The use of cameras , als o to ma ke any alteration in th
ss ion causes.
right to refuse admi illn es s or other unavoidable s’.
rendered ne ce ss ar y by ring all performance
“A ll ex its sh all be available for use du ce ’.
From the theatre ru
les g each performan
all be lowered durin
‘The fire curtain sh

1 5 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 nothing on

Cast in order of appearance:

DOTTY OTLEY
Mrs Clacke tt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
GARRY LEJEUNE
Roger Tr am ple ma in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BROOKE ASHTON
Vicki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FREDERICK FELLOWES
Philip Br en t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BELINDA BLAIR
Flavia Br en t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SELSDON MOWBRAY
Burg lar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FREDERICK FELLOWES
Sheik h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ernoon.
of th e Br en ts’ Co un try home, on a Wednesday aft
the living-room
The action takes place in

For Otstar productions ltd R

er POPPY NORTON-TAYLO
OD Assistant Stage Manag
Company and Stage Manager TIM ALLGO
Production credits
es.
Sardines by Old Salt Sardin
car dbo ard box es by Mr s. J.G.H Norton-Taylor.
Antique silverware and Supplies.
trolley by Severn Surgical
Stethoscope and hospital forth and Sons.
traints Ltd. Coffins by G. Ash
Straightjacket by Kumfy Res
the generous support of
We gratefully acknowledge
EUROPEAN BREWERIES
tion.
in sponsoring this produc

T
THIS SPACE TO LE
atre
manager, grand the
please apply to the

1 6 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 nothing on
g Room Doors
Behind the Dressin
ny popular television
rds ’ at the age of 12- pla ying has appeared in ma LLING CASUALTY,
‘trod the boa luding CA
tion of JULIUS series, incARREST!, OUT-PATIENTS, and
DOTTY OTLEY
we lco me ret urn Lucius in a touring producthe great CA RD IAC
(Mrs Clackett) makes a
CAESAR, with his father, was most
cre ate the rol e of Mrs , in the lea d. Sin ce IN-PATIENTS. On stage he versial all-
to the sta ge to Chelmsford Mo wb ray recently seen in the con tro
Hackett, al reps,
Clackett after playing Mrs.ipop lady the n he has served in various loch every male version of the TROJ lives near
AN WOMEN.
n’s mo st fam ous loll to hav e app ear ed wit rrie d, and
Britia lolly up!”) and claims akespeare He is happily ma
(“Ooh, I can’t ‘ardly ‘old me’s ON THE company to have toured Sh rking his eds pedigree
of TV wo Crawley, where his wife bre,’ he says ‘it
in over 320 episodes appearances in the pas t hal f-ce ntu ry,
dogs. ‘If she eve r lea ves me
ZEBRAS. Her many stage ed rdseeds and
acc laim way up through the Mustas of, to the will be for an Irish wolfhoun
d!’
include her critica lly the var iou s Bo ys and Son
comic char Le Beaus;
portrayal of Fru Sackett, theOM THE Balthazars, Benvolios, andes, Trinculos, ROBIN HOUSEMONGER k, Surrey,
(Author)
in Strindber g’s SC EN ES FR Sle nde rs, Len nox Wo rce ste r Par
t appearance the n the was bor n in
CHARNELHOUSE. Her firs n of HENRY duating to ry
duc tio Snouts, and Froths; and gra Aguecheeks. into a family ‘unremarkable in eve hai r
ever? In a sch ool pro the Scroops, Pol oni use s and t wit h red
y, Mrs. ance was as way except for an aun
IV, PART I as the old bag-lad His mo st rec ent film app ear
who use d to sin g all the hig h twi ddly
N WILLIES. DOW over the
Duckett. Outraged ensioner in GREE bits from THE MERRY WI e been the
tea -ta ble ’. He cla im s to hav
rgular) first hosiery
BELINDA BLAIR
n on the stage SELSDON MOWBRAY (Buof 12- playing world’s most unsuccessful gents fill the
(Flavia Bre nt) has bee ‘trod the boards ’ at the age began wri tin g ‘to
she made JULIUS wholesaler, and en one hosiery order
since the age of four, whenSAILOR at the Lucius in a touring production ofat lon g hou rs betwe
her debut in SINBAD TH as on of Miss E
CAESAR, with his father,
the gre s experience
pod rom e , in the lea d. Sin ce and the next’. He turned thi CK S BEFORE
old Croydon Hip Chelmsford Mowb ray into his very first play, SOthe West End
g Tots. She s local reps,
Toni Tanner’s Ten Tappin way round this then he has ser ved in var iou
MARRIAGE, wh ich ran in
subsequently danced her and the Far ed with every subsequent
ica , and claims to have appear akespeare for nine years. Two of his HANKY
country, Southe rn Afr pan y to hav e tou red Sh efs En cou nte r and
-DOODA! and com rking his plasy, Bri
East in shows like ZIPPEDY Mo re rec ent ly in the past half-century, wordseeds and PANKY, broke box office rec
ords in
HERE COME LES GIR LS!
wa y up thr oug h the Mu sta
th, We ste rn Au str alia . NOTHING ON
comedy hits s of, to the Per
she has been seen in suchWHO’S BEEN the various Boys and Son Le Beaus; is his seventeenth play.
as DON’T MR DU DD LE! , aza rs, Be nvo lios , and
TWICE TW O Ba lth
SLEEPING IN MY BED?. and es, Trinculos,
to scr iptwriter then the Slenders, Lennox duating to LLOYD DALLAS
is ma rrie d ; and gra Cambridge,
IS SE X. Sh e
tribute d lea d- Sn out s, and Fro ths
echeek s. (director) ‘read English at benefits
Terry Wough, who has con chat shows. the Scr oops, Poloniuses and Agu was as and sta ge cra ft at the loc al
in material to most of TV’s ee retrievers. His most recent film appearance LLIES. office’. He has directed plathe South of
ys in most
They hav e two son s and thr ion er in GR EE N WI nin g
Outraged ens parts of Britain, win cial Award
UN E Scotland Critics’ Circle Spe ed a highly
GA RR Y LE JE BROOKE AS HT ON in 1969. In 197 2 he dir ect
ile still at the
(Roger Tramplemain) wh eted Laetitia (Vi cki ) is probably best known as suc ces sfu l sea son for the National
drama school won the cov ce. His od, honest, ent years
Vio len girl wearing nothing but ‘go bah nh otb rau Theatre of Sri Lanka. In rec t known for
Daintym an Me dal for natural froth’ in the Ha upt om e bes
POLICE!, he has probably bec
television works includes RENSIC, and lag er commercial. Her televisionInfants’ his brilliant series of Shake parks of the
speare in
IM E SQ UA D, SW AT, FO es ran ge fro m Gir l at tio ns in the
CR ly best- appearenc to Girl In Summer’ produc
THE NICK, but he is probab -cream School in ON THE ZEBRASOBATION. inner London boroughs.
known as ‘Cornetto ’, the ice ge Parlour in ON PR
rts of all the Ma ssa L IN
salesman who stirs the hea E GIR
ZEBRAS. Cinemagoers saw her in TH the Girl in
lollipop ladies in ON THE ROOM 14, where she played
Room 312.

(Philip Brent)
rgular) first FREDERICK FELLOWES
SELSDON MOWBRAY (Bu

T
THIS SPACE TO LE
atre
manager, grand the
please apply to the

1 7 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 nothing on

A Glimpse of
the Noumenal
(condensed from JG Stillwater, Eros Untr
ousered-Studies in the semantics of Bedr
oom Farce)

T
‘bedroom farce’,
he cultural importance of the so-called
reco gnized, but
The most important or ‘English sex farce’, has long been
on the metaphysical
the attention has tended to cent re
technological advance tity and upon the soci al criticism
significance of mistaken iden
in history, so far as the implicit in the form’s grou nd-b reak ing expl orat ion of cross-
maintenance of moral dressing and trans-gender role-playing.
The focus of scho larly
shift to the recu rren ce
standards is concerned, interest, however, is now beginning to
r relig ious and
and to thei
was the invention of certain mythic themes in the genre,
spiritual impl icati ons.
of the keyhole.

—George Santayana a woman come to some
In a typical bedroom farce, a man and
ty and the Beast, Bluebeard’s
secret or mysterious place (cf. Beau
whic h are supposed to remain
Castle, etc.) to perform certain acts
the worl d. This is plainly a variant of
concealed from the eyes of
of which, though presented
traditional ‘search’ or ‘quest’, the goal
rstood as metaphor of
Posset (milk curdled with as being ‘sexual’ in nature, is to be unde
e partial disrobing may occur, to suggest
ale or vinegar) was one of the enlightenment and transcendence. Som
worldly illusions, but total nudity
first foods to be processed perhaps a preliminary stripping away of
ledge’ (i.e. spiritual understanding) are
by industrial methods. In the (perfect truth) and complete ‘carnal know
of coincidental encounters (often with
sixteenth century virtually perpetually forestalled by the intervention to
sts’), which bear a striking resemblance
every village had its posset-mill, other seekers engaged in parallel ‘que Flut e,
us esoteric cults (cf. The Magic
peragh
Desthou tellshave survived. Their
tionfew the trials undergone by postulants in vario
a thou
func tioning s—
sand tale was based on the Star Wars, etc,).
andcom mon obseervation that milk
each of thos tice
l Commission on Procedures and Prac
sand
thoutends to beg ets le more readily
curd According to evidence given to the Roya ts adm it to havi ng
17% of estate agen
a thou sand
on thun mor
dery e.summer days. In in the Sale of Real Estate, approximately
pass ed off a prop erty they were selling as their own.
poss
—Maoldovian et-m ill
prov production was
erb on at least one occasion
maintained throughout the year
to impress a member of the opposite
by allowing the milk to run In 63% of these cases the intention was
illicit sexual activity—though
into a heated curdling chamber sex, and/or provide accommodation for
her used properties to secure a loan or
where the flow of incoming some witnesses had at one time or anot
victims. One agent boasted that he had
ale or vinegar was ingeniously other business advantage from gullible
ter bedroom, then sell his partner the
harnessed to operate a kind of managed to have intercourse in the mas d
champagne from the cellar and a poun
simple theatrical thundersheet. property—and help himself to a case of
en.
The product was then packed in and a half of strawberries from the gard
small ‘yoggy pots’, made from s.
re of the genre is a multiplicity of door
the scrota of wild yogs. A recurring and highly significant featu phys ical one in whic h
door s as the
If we regard the world on this side of the
—Janet Thrice:
are cond emn ed to live, the worl d or worlds concealed behind them
mortal men
The Tudor Food Industry the higher and more spiritual plane into
may be thought of as representing both
the underworld from which at any
which the postulants hope to escape, and

1 8 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 nothing on

or punish. When the doors do open, it

moment demons may leap out to tempt e
xpectedness, highly suggestive of thos
is often with great suddenness and une give acce ss to the
ghtenment which
epiphanic moments of insight and enli
u n d ing glim pse of the noumenal.
kgr
f bac eatre
o ‘other’, and offer us a fleet
m o
ite th have
first in a of trousers. This can be readily
The rmation lieved to ival Ano ther recurring feature is the fall or loss
Man and the loss of primal innocence.
info s b e r ev
ei for a recognized as an allusion to the Fall of
ramm n 1599, Verona. It
p r o g i e reveals a pair of striped underpants, in
ared en of
appe o Gentlem f history talian
of th The removal of the trousers traditionally
the tiger, the feral beast that lurks in all
of Tw d a brie I
orth anel which we recognize both the stripes of
e e N d by the lost trousers, and perhaps
us beneath the civilized exterior suggeste
id th p
prov d fall of an inset talian of
a n d l I es caused by the whipping which
rise tates, an of usefu .
s s t r s also a premonitory representation of the strip
cit y al i
avell
e for fornication.
ining or tr was formerly the traditional punishment
conta hrases f
p
ce resemblance has always played a
The confusion of identity caused by chan
ard IV had a notorious lookalike, Leofric
significant part in human affairs. Edw
tford, who fooled many courtiers and
Leadbetter, a tallowboiler from Sony Stra
wives could tell them apart. On one
visiting heads of state. Not even their
three statutes and probably fathered
ion are occa sion Leadbetter gave the royal assent to
The common sard ine. 13.4 mill re was detected. Some historians
The wor d the future King Edward V before the impostu
eaten daily in Gre at Brit ain alon e. n it was in fact the king, not Leadbetter,
from the Fren ch sard ine. believe that in the subsequent confusio
is derived
who was hanged.

zed as ‘funny’. It is true that the form
Farce, interestingly, is popularly categori
sense of the strange or uncanny, such
often involves ‘funny’ elements in the
and behavior suggestive of demonic
as supposedly supernatural phenomena, de
here is probably also intended to inclu
possession. But the meaning of ‘funny’
hter.’
its secondary sense, ‘provocative of laug

cely needs to be said that laughter,
This is an interesting perception. It scar
rol and the spasmodic release of breath,
involving as it does the loss of self-cont
esentation of the sexual act. But it can
a vital bodily fluid, is a metaphorical repr
Sardines are even more plagu ed than their huma n
h suggests that it may in addition be
lookalikes. also occasion the shedding of tears, whic
we recognize here a symbolic foretaste
cousi ns by the probl em of doub les and
a sublimated form of mourning. Indeed
ed because it is thought that during a
of death. If sneezing has been widely fear
may not be recaptured (whence ‘Bless
sneeze the soul flies out of the body, and but
h more dangerous is laughter. Not once
you!’ or ‘Gesundheit!’), then how muc and expu lsion s of brea th
r contractions
over and over again the repeated muscula hter is reco gniz ed in such
danger of laug
drive the ‘soul’ forth from the body. The
funn y,’ and ‘I almo st died’. There is a lurking fear that
expressions as ‘killingly
e, and that a farce may end with a
even more spectacular violence may ensu t
or Medea, if people are induced to ‘spli
bloodletting as gruesome as in Oedipus
their sides’ or ‘laugh their heads off’.

oom farce has sometimes in the past
Fear of the darker undertones of the bedr
An early pair of famous doubles t’. As the foregoing hopefully makes
led to its dismissal as ‘mere entertainmen
– Edward IV and Leofric Leadbetter. Arts Council or a private sponsor for the
clear, though, financial support by the
means out of place.
tour of a bedroom farce would be by no

1 9 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

British Words and Theatre Vocabulary from Noises Off
Ballcocks
Are floating balls that control water
levels in toilets. A ballcock (also balltap
or fill valve) is also a mechanism for
filling water tanks, such as those found
in flush toilets, while avoiding overflow.
It was invented by Thomas Crapper.
Banisters
Handrails used on stairways or
escalators.
Beginners
The actors who open the play, or
appear on stage first. In the UK,
the stage manager calls “Beginners,
please!” five minutes before curtain.
In America, the phrase “Places, please!”
is used.
Bloke
Another term for man or boyfriend
Bric-a-Brac
Miscellaneous Items. A props note to
let the Director and Designer know that
any specific house items are usable.
Buffon
A person who is always clowning
around and trying to be funny, but looks
ignorant or foolish instead.
Burnous
A burnous (also spelled burnoose,
or bournous; from the Berber and
Maghribi Arab: burnus) is a long cloak
of rough woolen fabric with an attached
hood, normally worn by people of
Middle Eastern or Arab descent.
Bustups
Another term for argument or fight,
also a breakup.
Calls
Announcements by the stage manager,
letting the actors know when the play
will begin.
2 0 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
China Tea Service
A tea set collection, usually including a
tea pot, cups, saucers, and tray.
Colloquy
A formal conversation between two
people. Usually used when describing
an intellectual dialogue.
Corridor
An enclosed passageway, similar to
a hallway.
Curtains Raiser
A short play—usually a comedy—
performed before the beginning of the
main play. Similar to the cartoons often
shown before movies.
Dematerialised
To disappear, vanish, or become
immaterial.
Dials 999
UK version of 911, the number dialed
for emergencies.
Digs
(place of living): Living quarters —
often temporary.
Distraint
(Also called Distress.) The seizure
and holding of a person’s property
as security for payment of a debt or
satisfaction of a claim.
Dress Rehearsal
The last rehearsal before the play is
performed before an audience, usually
the night before, or a few nights before
the opening. Treated as a performance,
it is done in full costume, with technical
effects, played straight through without
stopping.
Elecs
A shortened term for Electrical
engineers; also known as sound,
lighting, and rigging operators for
the theatre.
Exeunt
Exit of two or more characters.
Farce
An exaggerated comedy.
Farcical
A broadly or extravagantly humorous
event, resembling farce.
Flight Bag
A small standard travel bag sized for
planes. It is similar to a carry-on.
Fortnight
Two weeks time.
Front of House Calls
The notifications to patrons letting them
know to find their seats, and giving
actors the number of minutes until the
curtain goes up.
Gold Taps
Similar to a faucet, Golden Taps are
worth money—which is why the burglar
is stealing them.
Green room
A waiting area for the actors before
they make their stage entrances.
Holdall
Also known as a “carryall,” this is a
large bag used to carry things—mostly
while traveling.
Holidays
British term for a vacation (not
necessarily celebratory).
Hot-water bottle
A thick rubber bag filled with hot water,
used to soothe muscle aches or to
warm a bed.
Incitement
To encourage or bring about a passion
to do something; to instigate a reaction
from someone.
Lavatory
Another term used for bathroom, or
toilet.
Linen Cupboard
A small closet for towels and sheets.
Loo
Another slang term for bathroom—
quite popular in the UK.
Madeira
An amber dessert wine from the
Madeira Islands.
Masking
A masking piece is scenery used to
block the audience’s view of parts of
the stage that should not be seen.
Matinee
A late or early afternoon performance
of a play, typically starting between
noon and 2pm.
Mezzanine
The lowest balcony level of seating
in a theatre, and in a house it is an
intermediate floor between the two
main floors of the residence.
Ministration
A task; something one is serving or
working on. Generally used to describe
the ministrations of a priest giving to his
congregation.
Mullion Window
A structure that divides two adjacent
windows.
OAPs
Old Age Pensioners. Essentially,
older people who would be receiving
government-supported income
assistance (a pension).
2 1 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
Paranormal Phenomena
Paranormal is a generalized term used
to describe unusual experiences that
lack a scientific explanation. Phenomena
are any extraordinary occurrences.
Pass Door
The door to the backstage area where
the dressing rooms are.
Postprandial Snooze
An after dinner nap.
Potentates
Someone who has power to rule over
others, also known as a monarch.
Prompt Corner
A corner with a stand off stage where
the assistant stage manager can feed
actors their lines if necessary.
Pub
UK term for bar, which also serves
food and has a family small town
atmosphere.
Quid
British pound, equal to 100 pence.
Rebuked
Scolded, chided, reprimanded.
Row
A term for an argument or fight. To
have a row is to have an angry dispute.
Scenery Dock
Another term for the scenery shop,
where sets and props are built and
stored.
Service Quarters
The resting room and kitchen of
servants is separated from the rest of
the house, so the owners did not have
to mingle with their workers.
Shack
A dilapidated place of residence of
storage
Shan’t
A contraction of “shall” and “not.”
Shindig
A large and noisy party of people. A
gathering or get-together.
Slapstick
Physical comedy such as falling or
hitting, it is often abusive, but with the
understanding that no one is actually
being injured. Originally, a “slap stick”
was two-hinged wooden slats attached
to a stick that would make a large
sound when swung through the air. A
“slap stick” would enable one actor
to pretend to hit another with the
implement, and make a loud smacking
noise without actually hitting them.
Stalls
The lower private balcony seats closest
to the stage.
Tableau
A finished stage position that is held by
actors until the lights go down.
Tabs
A term for curtains on a stage.
Tannoy
A loud speaker used for announcements
Telly
UK slang for television.
Tremulously
Unsteady, wavering; to be wobbly,
unsure of steps.
Wanly
Weakly, or without energy. To wan is to
languidly lose life and energy.
Wardrobe
Costumes, or dressing room.
WC Suite
Bathroom and Shower.
West End
Like New York’s Broadway the section
of London that is the home of the
majority of the city’s theatres.
Wings
Area immediately offstage, where
actors stand to wait for their cues. The
term comes from the use of “Drop
Wing” sets of flats, which the actors
hide behind.
Noises Off: The Jokes
Title: Noises Off
Noises Off is a theatre term meaning
that the noise is coming from off stage
rather than on stage. It is also used to
describe a disruption from the backstage
area heard out in the audience. This title
is fitting given the second acts focus on
what is going on behind the scenes, and
in the personal lives of the cast and crew.
PHILIP: If in Inland Revenue find out
we’re in the country, even for one night,
bang goes our claim to be resident
abroad —bang goes most of this year’s
income.
Inland Revenue is the British government
tax collection agency, similar to the IRS in
the United States.
A Delightful 16th century Posset Mill, 25
miles from London.
A Posset is an old British drink which later
became the inspiration for eggnog. It is
a mixture of heated ale or wine curdled
with milk, eggs, and spices. Posset was
first used as medicine in the middle ages.
Another definition of Posset is a baby’s
spit-up of a small amount of milk after
feeding. So a “Posset Mill” is a mill, or
small farm that produces posset. Hence,
the joke about a delightful Posset Mill.
LLOYD: My God, it’s like Myra Hess
playing on through the air-raids.
Dame Myra Hess was a celebrated
English pianist of the first half of the 20th
century. Her popularity grew significantly
as she continued to perform throughout
World War I. Selsdon continues to say
his lines even though he is asked to stop
and the play is falling apart around him,
like Myra Hess performing on the radio,
refusing to stop even though London was
being bombed.
2 2 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
ROGER: Sheikh! I thought you were
coming over at four?
Sheikh is an Arabic title of respect dating
from pre-Islamic antiquity; it strictly
means a venerable man of more than
50 years of age. The title “Sheikh” is
especially borne by heads of religious
orders, heads of colleges, such as
Al-Azhar University in Cairo, chiefs of
tribes, and headmen of villages and of
separate quarters of towns. Sheikh is
both a title and a greeting of respect.
Much like “Aloha” means hello and
goodbye in Hawaiian.
LLOYD: Make it four grilled turbot.
Off the bone.
Grilled Turbot is a flat circular fish
found in the North Atlantic, Baltic,
and Mediterranean seas, not at all like
Sardines.
BELINDA: Oh, I love technicals!
Technicals are the first rehearsals adding
in sound, lights, and special effects, they
tend to run long and be tedious. The joke
being, nobody loves technicals.
Garry, Dotty, and Lloyd makes gestures
to her of tipping a glass, or raising the
elbow, or screwing the nose.
Screwing the Nose is a term for getting
drunk or drinking to excess.
LLOYD: Tim you need a break. Why
don’t you sit down quietly upstairs and
do all the company’s VAT?
VAT’s are taxes levied on the difference
between a commodities price before
taxes and its cost of production. It is not
generally considered restful to do one’s
taxes—much less everyone else’s.

Theatre Lore
What is a ghost light?
There is a superstition that if
an emptied theater is ever left
completely dark, a ghost will take up
residence. In other versions of the
same superstition the ghosts of past
performances return to the stage
to live out their glory moments. To
prevent this, a single light called a
ghost light is left burning at center
stage after the audience and all of the
actors and musicians have gone.
Now, those in the world of theatre
know that a “dark” theatre is one
without a play. There is nothing sadder
to a dramatic artist than an empty
house and a playless stage. Therefore,
a light is left burning center stage so
that the theatre is never “dark;” it is
simply awaiting the next production.
2 3 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
Selsdon (to Poppy) Come on
girl, get the tabs up! Some of
those OAP’s out there haven’t
got long to go.
OAP: A acronym for Old Age
Pensioner that is commonly
used in the UK. The general
idea is that these elderly
people have trouble walking
and usually use colostomy
bags and are nearing the end
of their lives, so they can’t sit
around for ever waiting for
Poppy to raise the curtains,
they will either pee their pants,
or expire from old age.
Enter Belinda from the
dressing rooms, holding
the bottle of Whisky.
TIM: (takes it) Oxfam! I’ll
give it to Oxfam!
Oxfam is an international
agency that organizes famine
relief. It was founded in
England in 1942 as the Oxford
Committee for Famine Relief
by Canon Theodore Richard
Milford. Its original mission
was to send food through the
Allied blockade to the citizens
of Nazi-occupied Greece.
Though Oxfam’s initial concern
was the provision of food
to relieve famine they also
develop new strategies against
the causes of famine. The joke
being that Tim is going to
donate whiskey to a famine
relief foundation.
Robin Housemonger
(Playwright of Nothing On):
The name Housemonger has
a specific symbolic meaning.
The definition of monger is: A
dealer in a specific commodity
normally used in combination;
a person promoting something
undesirable, always used in
combination (with negative
connotations since the 16th
century); To sell or peddle
something, this includes
prostitution. This name is
symbolic, due to the sexual
innuendos in the play, and
the general idea that artists/
actors are little better than
prostitutes. So Housemonger
essentially translates to
house prostitute. The house
is significant because the
playwright is never seen in
A Noise is Off. He is the
unseen character, the unseen
prostitute.
Ummm… Where?
Sunderland

A Look at some of the

Ashton-Under-Lyne
towns in Great Britain, as
mentioned in Noises Off
Aberystwyth: A historic market town and Lowestoft
holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Aberystwyth
Sometimes known as Aber, it is located at
the union of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol.

Ashton-Under-Lyne: A market town in the

borough of Tameside, Ashton was originally
part of Lancashire, lying on the northern Weston-Super-Mare
bank of the river Thames. The “Ashton”
part of the town’s name comes from the
Old English term for “settlement by ash Yeovil
trees.” “Under-Lyne” is thought to have
been derived from the town’s proximity to
the Pennines mountain range. Basingstoke

Basingstoke: A town in northeast

Hampshire, England, that lies across a valley
at the source of the River Loddon. About
48 miles southwest of London, it is part of
the borough of Basingstoke and Deane.
Basingstoke is often called “Doughnut City”
because of the number of doughnut looking
roundabouts it contains.
Lowestoft: A town on The Sunrise Coast
in the county of Suffolk, England. Lying
between the eastern edge of Suffolk
Broads and Lake Lothing heading towards
the North Sea, Lowestoft is also the most
easterly town of the United Kingdom and of
the British Isles.
Sunderland: A city in Tyne and Wear (a
county in North East England around the
Rivers Tyne and Wear), England. It was
originally a county borough but is now part
of the urban borough city of Sunderland. It
is situated at the mouth of the River Wear.
The name “Sunderland” is thought to have
come from Soender-land. Soender/sunder
is the Anglo-Saxon infinitive meaning “to
part”. ‘Sønder’ means “chopped” in Danish
which is probably a reference to the valley
carved by the River Wear that runs through
the city.
Weston-Super-Mare: A seaside resort town
located in North Somerset, part of the
ceremonial county of Somerset, England.
Situated on the Bristol Channel coast,
Weston is derived from the Anglo-Saxon
for the west tun meaning settlement. The
descriptive part of its name, “super-Mare”
is Medieval Latin and was first recorded by
an anonymous church clerk, to differentiate
it from other settlements named Weston
close by. It literally translates to “upon
sea”. So, the Grande Theatre is located
near the sea in Weston.
Yeovil: A town in south Somerset
England, the town lies within the local
district of South Somerset and the Yeovil
parliamentary population. It has Paleolithic
remains, and was on an old Roman road. ❖

2 4 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

VISUAL ARTS:
Theatrical Set Design Elements — Flats and Paint Finishes

Noises Off presents a challenge to theatre companies

staging the play. Its meta-theatrical world (theatre
about theatre,) is seemingly straightforward, but upon
closer inspection the technical details present major
obstacles to an effective design. Set designer and
Technical Director Adam Lillibridge shared his vision
for the set of Noises Off, noting these challenges and
outlining his central goals:

The design process for a play like Noises Off can

Diagram of a Broadway-style flat. Dimensions: 4x8
feet overall, with framing made of 2x4 lumber, nailed
or screwed together at the corners and secured with
corner blocks and diagonal braces. May be covered
with canvas stretched around the edges (more light-
weight,) or plywood (more sturdy).
be a challenging endeavor. The large, imposing
set is such a dominant presence onstage that
some would say it is the tenth character in the
play. While the world of the play may seem to
exist in relatively simple settings, (a community
theater, and a living room) there are a number of
specific criteria (functional doors and windows,
levels, and stairs), detailed by the author,
which must inhabit the design for a successful
production. With a play like this, and often
in farce, functionality of the set is equally as
important as the look. The backstage “reality”
of the play was relatively simple to create as it
was designed to serve the front of the set, as it
would be in any other play (escape stairs, resting
places for actors, etc.) with perhaps a bit more
of a dramatic edge making things look almost
dangerous. One of my goals for the design of the
play within the play was to be true to author’s
directions that this takes place in an English
country style home. The architecture is therefore
simple and handcrafted. The second goal of the
design was to echo the lively, and almost manic,
nature of the play by using a bright color pallete
and a number of dramatic angles within the set.

Lillibridge designed a set within a set for Noises Off —

and used some of the most commonly-known and used
forms of set construction to realize his design. Chief
among these forms was the theatrical “flat”. The so-
called Broadway flat makes up the basic “unit” of many
theatrical set backgrounds, and often forms the walls
of a home, the background pieces, or the movable
partitions of onstage environments. Flats vary in size,
but their construction is fairly uniform. (See diagram.)
In fact, many theatrical unions require an exam for
entrance, and labeling a blank diagram of a theatrical
flat is one of the test questions.

2 5 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 CLASSROOM CONNECTION: Suggested Activities

Basic Set Design Using Flats: A typical theatrical “flat” is shown in diagram
above. In groups, assign students in your class a single play or piece of
literature. Divide students into groups, and ask each to come up with and
sketch a set design using a combination of these typical flats. Students should
use the flat as their common unit — building extensions, linking flats together,
and tipping them at odd angles to achieve a unique design. Students can
develop their designs further by including indications of decorative finishes and
wood trims. When the designs are finished, ask each group to present their
design to the class, noting the ways in which their use of the central flat unit
differs from that of the other groups.

Screeded Paint Effects: For Noises Off, scenic painters made plain plywood
and other materials look like rough-sawn lumber. To achieve this look, they
used paint glazes and a screed. A screed is a small rubber instrument with a
heavily grooved edge. A layer of glaze is painted over a surface, and before
the glaze has dried, the screed is dragged over the surface to remove some of
the paint. This process is used to achieve interesting patterns—in the case of
the set for Noises Off, knotholes and wood grain were simulated in this way.
Using examples of textures in the environment, (a real piece of wood, textiles,
etc.) ask students to experiment with different decorative paint textures using a
basic screed constructed out of recycled cardboard and slightly diluted paint.

CA Visual Arts Standards Addressed: Grades 9-12 Proficient: Creative Expression 2.1, 2.2, 2.4

2 6 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

MUSIC: British Farce in 19th Century Music

Noises Off, as a classic example of British farce, is

part of a tradition that spans many art forms, including
music. The most notable, long-performed, and critically-
acclaimed form of musical farce has its origins in 19th
century Britain. Two composers, whose collaboration
lasted for over 25 years, engraved on the hearts of
concert-going audiences a love of musical farce. They
were librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s 14 light comic operas—known to
fans and devotees as “G & S” operettas—bridged the
gap between opera seria (serious opera) and what is
now known as modern musical theatre. Their work has
formed lasting impressions upon the musical world, and
influenced creative minds in writing—cementing G & S
operas as true classics. Like Noises Off, G & S operas will
continue to stand the test of time, and are performed in
many countries around the globe, in multiple languages.

Notable elements of farce feature prominently in G & S

operas. These include political entanglements, clashes
between economic classes (frequently, a lower-class
person dressing above their station or vice-versa, as in
Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore,) twins, mistaken
identity, accidents of
birth, all male members of
the cast wearing novelty
clothing (in Iolanthe,
members of Parliament
wear fairy wings,) and
numerous appearances
of slapstick and physical
buffoonery.

Like Noises Off, G & S

operas nearly all feature
romance—although the
love depicted isn’t serious,
romantic love. Farcical
love as seen in G & S is
much more irreverent,
and is often based on
shallow physical attraction,
loneliness, convenience or proximity. (In Pirates of
Penzance, young Frederick begins the opera in love with
the aged Ruth, who is the only woman he has ever seen.)
Also like Noises Off, G & S operas feature numerous
inside jokes and stabs at the political machines at work
during the era in which the work was written.

2 7 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

 Savoy Theatre

But beyond thematic content, perhaps the most notable elements

CLASSROOM of G & S operas are musical memorability, provocative lyrics
CONNECTION: infused with wit and irony, and natural singability. Soaring vocal
Suggested Activities lines, rapid-fire “patter” songs (a song form made famous by
Gilbert and Sullivan,) and lush harmonies influenced composers
Out of a set of pre- such as Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter. Playwrights
selected venues in the cite their inspiration in the musical genius of Gilbert and Sullivan
US and abroad, ask as well. Noel Coward wrote, “I was born into a generation that still
students to select one took light music seriously. The lyrics and melodies of Gilbert and
and give a detailed Sullivan were hummed and strummed into my consciousness at an
historical account of its early age. My father sang them, my mother played them, my nurse,
history. Include pertinent Emma, breathed them through her teeth...My aunts and uncles...
architectural details, sang them singly and in unison at the slightest provocation...”
noted productions, and
companies in residence, The pre-eminent G & S production company, D’Oyly Carte, has
infamous stories, and made it their mission to present the works of G & S. They perform
interesting anecdotes. Britain’s famous Savoy Theatre. Historically important as the
Be certain that students theatre built in 1881 for Gilbert and Sullivan themselves, the Savoy
include an examination has hosted numerous productions of G & S operas. (Its first was the
of the musical styles debut of Patience.) Over 100 years later, in 1982, the Savoy hosted
featured at the venue, a little-known but now-famous play by a man named Michael Frayn.
and a description of The play was Noises Off. ❖
how audiences respond
to the cultural styles of For a complete list of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, listings
music heard there. of performing companies in your area, and other biological
information, consult the official G & S archive at: http://math.
boisestate.edu/GaS/ or view D’Oyly Carte’s website at: http://
www.doylycarte.org.uk/

CA Music Standards: Grades 9-12 Proficient; Historical and Cultural Context 3.1, Aesthetic Valuing 4.3.

2 8 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

Resources

BOOKS

Bermel, Prof. Albert. Farce: A History from Aristophanes to Woody Allen. Southern Illinois University Press, 1990.
Davis, Jessica. Farce (Classics in Communication and Mass Culture Series). Transaction Publishers, 2002.
Frayn, Michael. Constructions. Faber and Faber, 2009
Frayn, Michael. Copenhagen. Anchor, 2000
Frayn, Michael. Noises Off. Anchor, 2002
Gordon, Mel. Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell’Arte. PAJ Publications, 2001.
Dorries, Matthias. Michael Frayn’s ‘Copenhagen’ in Debate: Historical Essays and Documents on the 1941
Meeting Between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. University of California, Berkeley, 2005.
Moseley, Merritt. Understanding Michael Frayn (Understanding Contemporary British Literature).
University of South Carolina Press, 2006.
Rudlin, John. Commedia Dell’Arte: An Actor’s Handbook. Routledge, 2994.

WEBSITES

Michael Frayn - biography

http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc74.html
Michael Frayn on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0292450/
Tom Lehrer (Musical Farce)
http://www.tomlehrer.org/
D’Oyly Carte
http://www.doylycarte.org.uk/
Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/
Commedia Dell’Arte - Resources by Judith Chaffee
http://www.commedia-dell-arte.com/

VIDEOS AND RECORDINGS

Coward, Noel. Blithe Spirit: An Improbably Farce (Classic Drama) Naxos Audiobooks, 2002
Noises Off, 1992. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliott,
Julie Hagerty, Marilu Henner.
Clue, 1985. Directed by Jonathan Lynn. Starring Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Michael
McKean.
Bloody Good British Comedies (Clockwise/Are You Being Served? The Movie/The Best of Benny Hill), 1986.
Compilation by numerous Directors, starring actors such as John Cleese, John Inman, Mollie Sugden,
Frank Thornton, Trevor Bannister.
Charlie Rose with Michael Frayn, June 14 2000. DVD version of television interview between Charlie Rose
and Michael Frayn.

2 9 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

About Theatre Arts
Being an Audience
Member
Today, movies and television
take audiences away from
what was once
the number one form of
entertainment: going to the
theatre. But attending a live
performance is still one of
the most thrilling and active
forms of spending time.
In a theatre, observers are
catapulted into the action,
especially at an intimate
venue like A Noise Within,
whose thrust stage reaches
out into the audience and
whose actors can see, hear,
and feel the response of the
crowd. Although playhouses
in the past could sometimes
be rowdy, participating in
the performance by giving
respect and attention to
the actors is the most
appropriate behavior at
a theatrical performance
today. Shouting out (or even
whispering) can be heard
throughout the auditorium,
as can rustling paper or
ringing phones.
After A Noise Within’s
performance of Noises
Off, you will have the
opportunity to discuss the
play’s content and style with
the performing artists and
directors. You may wish to
remind students to observe
the performance carefully
or to compile questions
ahead of time so they are
prepared to participate in
the discussion.
3 0 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season
Theatre Vocabulary
These terms will be included in pre- and post-performance discussions
at A Noise Within.
blocking: The instructions a
director gives his actors that tell
them how and where to move in
relation to each other or to the
set in a particular scene.
character: The personality or part
portrayed by an actor on stage.
conflict: The opposition of people
or forces which causes the play’s
rising action.
dramatic irony: A dramatic
technique used by a writer in
which a character is unaware of
something the audience knows.
genre: Literally, “kind” or “type.”
In literary terms, genre refers to
the main types of literary form,
principally comedy and tragedy.
It can also refer to forms that are
more specific to a given historical
era, such as the revenge tragedy,
or to more specific sub-genres
of tragedy and comedy such as
the comedy of manners, farce or
social drama.
motivation: The situation or
mood which initiates an action.
Actors often look for their
“motivation” when they try to
dissect how a character thinks or
acts.
props: Items carried on stage
by an actor to represent objects
mentioned in or implied by the
script. Sometimes the props
are actual, sometimes they are
manufactured in the theatre shop.
proscenium stage: There is
usually a front curtain on a
proscenium stage. The audience
views the play from the front
through a “frame” called the
proscenium arch. In this scenario,
all audience members have the
same view of the actors.
set: The physical world created
on stage in which the action of
the play takes place.
setting: The environment in which
a play takes place. It may include
the historical period as well as the
physical space.
stage areas: The stage is divided
into areas to help the director to
note where action will take place.
Upstage is the area furthest
from the audience. Downstage
is the area closest to the
audience. Center stage defines
the middle of the playing
space. Stage left is the actor’s
left as he faces the audience.
Stage right is the actor’s right
as he faces the audience.
theme: The overarching message
or main idea of a literary or
dramatic work. A recurring idea in
a play or story.
thrust stage: A stage that juts
out into the audience seating
area so that patrons are seated
on three sides. In this scenario,
audience members see the play
from varying viewpoints. A Noise
Within features a thrust stage.
About A Noise Within

A Noise Within’s mission is to
produce the great works of world
drama in rotating repertory,
with a company of professional,
classically- trained actors. A Noise
Within educates the public through
comprehensive outreach efforts and
conservatory training programs that
foster a deeper understanding and
appreciation of history’s greatest
plays and playwrights.
As the only company in southern
California working in the repertory
tradition (rotating productions using
a resident ensemble of professional,
trained artists), A Noise Within
is dedicated solely to producing
classical literature from authors such
as Shakespeare, Molière, Ibsen,
Shaw, and Euripides.
The company was formed in 1991
by founders Geoff Elliott and Julia
Rodriguez-Elliott, both of whom
were classically trained at the
acclaimed American Conservatory
Theatre in San Francisco. They
envisioned A Noise Within after
recognizing a lack of professional,
classical productions and education
in Southern California and sought
out and assembled their own
company of actors to meet the
need. All of A Noise Within’s
resident artists have been classically
trained, and many hold Master of
Fine Arts degrees from some of the
nation’s most respected institutions,
such as Juilliard, Yale, and the
American Conservatory Theatre.
In its fourteen-year history, A
Noise Within has garnered over
500 awards and commendations,
including the Los Angeles Drama
Critics’ Circle’s revered Polly
Warfield Award for Excellence and
the coveted Margaret Hartford
Award for Sustained Excellence.
In 2004, A Noise Within accepted an
invitation to collaborate with
the Los Angeles Philharmonic
for a tandem performance of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream at the
Hollywood Bowl.
More than 25,000 individuals
attend productions at A Noise
Within, annually, and between
performances at the theatre and
touring productions, the company
draws 13,000 student participants
to its arts education programs
every year. Students benefit from
in-school workshops, conservatory
training, and an internship program,
as well as subsidized tickets to
matinee and evening performances,
discussions with artists, and state
standards-compliant study guides.
Study Guides
A Noise Within creates
California standards-
compliant study guides to
help educators prepare
their students for their
visit to our theatre. Study
guides are available at no
extra cost to download
through our website: www.
anoisewithin.org. All of the
information and activities
outlined in these guides
are designed to work in
compliance with Visual
and Performing Arts,
English Language, and
other subject standards as
set forth by the state of
California.
Study guides include
background information on
the plays and playwrights,
historical context, textual
analysis, in-depth discussion
of A Noise Within’s artistic
interpretation of the work,
interviews with directors
and designers, as well
as discussion points and
suggested classroom
activities. Guides from past
seasons are also available to
download from the website.

California’s Home for the Classics

California’s Home for the Classics

Study Guide Credits
Geoff Elliott & Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, Artistic Directors
Written by Samantha Starr Administrative Office: 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91204
Production Photography by Craig Schwartz Administration: Tel 818.240.0910 / FAX 818.240.0826
Graphic Design by Christopher Komuro Website: www.anoisewithin.org
Box Office: 818.240.0910 ext.1

3 1 A Noise Within 2009/10 Repertory Season

California’s Home for the Classics