Jordan Wright
November 7, 2011
Special to The Alexandria Times
Rachael Hubbard as Belinda and Lars Klores as Frederick - Photos by Shane Canfield
From the classic genre of dry-as-a-martini British sex farces (think BBC’s To the Manor Born, Benny Hill or Are You Being Served?) British playwright Michael Frayn’s classic Noises Off comes to The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Devised as a play-within-a-play-within-a-play, the audience is in on the joke…and an adorably risqué joke it is…filled with snappy repartee, double entendres and a constant stream of ludicrous misinterpretations.
As the curtain rises we are treated to a seemingly serene drawing room in the English countryside. The manor’s newly wedded couple Phillip and Flavia Brent are honeymooning in Spain. But we are actually viewing the stage at the Grand Theatre in Weston-super-Mare where Lloyd Dallas, the director of a motley troupe of British actors, is staging his final dress rehearsal and it is most assuredly not going according to script with six neurotic actors, one frustrated director and two overworked stagehands threatening to undermine a smooth opening.
John Crowley as Timothy and Bruce Alan Rauscher as Lloyd - Photos by Shane Canfield
Actress-as-housekeeper Dotty Otley aka Mrs. Clackett cannot keep her props in order – ditto for her timing. The proper sequence of picking up a plate of sardines, replacing a phone receiver or a taking a folded newspaper off set are far too vexing for her and the paternalistic director tries to soothe the perpetually flummoxed actress. However being flummoxed is the order of the day for this hapless group of has-beens who are all sweetly sensitive to each other’s foibles. When Belinda Blair, playing newlywed Flavia Brent and thinking the rehearsal is just a technical run through, declares, “I just love ‘technicals’. Everyone’s so nice to everyone!” it’s a swell insider’s joke.
Enter yet more flummoxed actors to this madcap romp in the form of family solicitor Roger Tramplemain aka actor Adam Downs and his frothy little minx Vicki aka actress Brooke Ashton both hell-bent on an illicit out-of-the-office tryst. The duo explain their unannounced arrival by telling Mrs. Clackett, aka the more aptly named Dotty Otley, that the owners are selling the house and Vicki is there to explore the posh digs. But their coitus is ‘interruptus’ when the stage becomes a high-speed wacky whirlwind of slammed doors and miscues as they try to hide from the unexpectedly early return of the home’s honeymooning owners and an opportunistic burglar played by an actor whose booze-fueled missed entrances require a trio of understudies.
Kat Sanchez as Brooke, Gayle Nichols-Grimes as Dotty, Ron Bianchi as Selsdon, John Crowley as Timothy, and Rachael Hubbard as Belinda - Photos by Shane Canfield
There is plenty of opportunity for things to go horribly wrong and they do in spades with sloppy timing, muffed lines and faulty scenery as the order of the day. When Freddie as Actor-in-Perpetual-Crisis-Mode flubs his lines for the umpteenth time, Dallas suggests, “I think this show is beyond the help of the director himself!”
By Act III the play is in its third month and the cast’s backstage romantic high jinks have reached a feverish pitch. In a clever reverse the set becomes the theatre’s backstage and the audience, yes, that’s still us, is treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the complexities of stagecraft and the everything-that-can-be-misconstrued-and-is nature of the cast’s amorous adventures. The beleaguered Dallas tries vainly to keep all his actor-ducks in a row while carrying on simultaneous affairs with both Poppy the Prop Girl (Elizabeth Heir) and Brooke the deliciously corseted and gartered Minx. That the action takes place in stage whispers and arm-flailing pantomime while the show goes on out of view, is screwball comedy at its finest.
Adam Downs as Garry and Kat Sanchez as Brooke - Photos by Shane Canfield
In real life the seasoned cast of this zany production is more than up to the task. In particular, Bruce Alan Rauscher who provides anchor with his superciliously solicitous portrayal of Dallas; Kat Sanchez, a thoroughly engaging morsel of ingénue eye candy; and Adam Downs as Lejeune, her floundering Venus flytrap. Gayle Nichols-Grimes sets the Mrs. Malaprop tone with true aplomb as the put-upon housekeeper, Rachel Hubbard rocks the eternally sympatico Belinda Blair, and Lars Klores does some mighty scene-stealing as husband Freddie.
Thank ‘real life’ director and LTA veteran, C. Evans Kirk, for bringing us this frothy bowl of sexy Brit wit.
At The Little Theatre of Alexandria 600 Wolfe Street through November 26th. For tickets and information call 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com.
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