Noises Off a Crowd-Pleaser

No one could accuse the members of the Senior Play of not being up for a challenge. Noises Off, a three-act play by Michael Frayn, is a demanding play, requiring changeability and flexibility from the cast, the crew, and even the set itself. Directed by Mr. Brown, Mr. Henry, and Ms. Brownell-Swain, the cast and crew of the Senior Play stepped up to the challenge.

Noises Off tells the story of a theater troupe trying to make it through the run of a play, and all the trouble the actors cause for each other. Thankfully, Greenwood’s own troupe didn’t face that level of drama, though getting Greenwood’s own production to the opening night brought its own challenges for students to overcome.

According to Ms. Brownell-Swain, mounting a show is always challenging for various reasons, but Noises Off presented unique challenges, as “this play is very technically complex in terms of stage direction, timing and blocking. The students had to learn pretty much the whole show, not just their own parts; remembering the timing for all the sight gags was so important.”

This meant the everyone had to be perfectly in sync. The play relied heavily on perfect comedic timing and rapid dialogue exchanges. Plus, most of the actors had to essentially take on two characters.

According to Brownell-Swain, “The students did an incredible job of pulling it all together.”

The set was another challenge that the students managed successfully. It was designed by a local set designer and took about three weeks to fully construct. Throughout rehearsals, the stage crew maintained it, making sure it stayed in working order. They even worked in the background while the actors ran their dress rehearsal. The props team brought the set to life with their close attention to detail.

With a play this complicated, it meant things didn’t always go as planned, but everyone was ready to adapt and keep things on track. They worked in pairs and developed codes to let each other know if they needed to be “saved,” thinking quickly to make sure the audience didn’t notice a thing. Ms. Brownell-Swain said, “I really enjoyed watching the kids improvise on opening night as things went in different directions!”

Near-capacity audiences enjoyed two fabulous performances of Noises Off, March 1 and 2. Congratulations to the cast, crew, and directors for creating a stunning and hilarious production. All the hard work certainly paid off!