British farce provides "a riotous exercise in comedy"



GUILDERLAND — Creating side-splitting slapstick is a lot of work. Random buffoonery is a matter of strict discipline.

The Guilderland Players were hard at it this week in rehearsals of the British farce, Noises Off, which plays Friday and Saturday at the high school.

Take rolling down a flight of stairs, for example.

Keegan Burke-Falotico stood Monday evening at the top of the stage-set stairs as Director Andy Maycock stood below.
"I can do a shoulder roll down," said the young actor with confidence. Maycock didn’t look so sure, but he nodded.

Burke-Falotico threw himself from the landing and tumbled head-over-heels down the stairs, landing flat-out on his belly.

The rest of the cast, sitting in the darkened theater seats, applauded.
"You hurt"" asked Maycock.
"Just my back," responded Burke-Falotico with a grin.
"Looks good," said Maycock.
Maycock, who teaches English at the high school, is directing a play that he says he wanted to put on "even before I was a teacher."

He cites the New York Post calling Noises Off "the funniest farce ever written."

Playwright Michael Frayn is said to have gotten the idea for the play as he stood in the wings, watching Lynn Redgrave in Chinamen, a comedy he had written. He thought it was funnier from behind than in front and decided he should write a farce from behind the scenes.

Noises Off takes its name from the theatrical term for off-stage sounds. The off-stage sounds inform the on-stage action in this play within a play.

Written in 1982, Noises Off portrays a third-rate British troupe on the road performing a play called Nothing On, with an intentional double entendre in its title. The first act is the troupe’s final dress rehearsal. There are troubles with the props — particularly a plate of sardines — and with exits and entrances, with missed lines, and missed cues. The director yells from the audience and comes on stage to give directions.
"Two of the players have a romance. The director has a romance with two of the women. It’s a set-up for disaster to come," said Maycock.

The second act is set backstage as the troupe is on tour. The clever Guilderland set was designed by James VanHorne.
"The two in the romance are now feuding, each trying to sabotage the other’s part. The set rotates, so they’re racing around, trying to make entrances," said Maycock. He went on to describe some of the many pratfalls and pranks, such as one person trying to tie the other’s shoes together.
"Act Two is two plays," said Maycock. "Nothing On is playing in the front. Meanwhile, this whole pantomime battle goes on in back."
The third act depicts a performance near the end of the run. "Everything has gone awry," said Maycock. "They’re just about to kill each other."
He concluded, "It’s the kind of show you never forget."
Maycock decided his high-school actors were up to a play that has challenged many pros. "It’s difficult to rehearse," he conceded. "It’s a riotous exercise in comedy."
The cast began by isolating Nothing On, and rehearsing the play within the play. "We got it right, which never happens in the script," said Maycock. "There are all these layers and the students have to remember which mistakes to make."

The ensemble cast has five men and four women.

In just six weeks of rehearsal, they’ve mastered a variety of British accents and a range of comic antics.
"I always forget how much the kids bring to a part," said Maycock. "The characters are far more interesting than if I drew them."

At Monday’s rehearsal, Maycock and his actors have an easy give-and-take as they refine the performance. It appears there is now a play within a play within a play as the director of Noises Off talks to the director of Nothing On.
Maycock asks David Alliger, who plays the director, "What am I going to say to you""
"Don’t screw up so much," returns Alliger.
"Entrances!" says Maycock, smiling at Alliger’s self-deprecating response. "You have key moments where you have to be ready. You have to anticipate."
Maycock later compliments Alliger, encouraging him in his difficult role, "David, last year, you had the monologue from hell. This year you have the cues from hell."

Last year, Alliger played Lenny in a classic American comedy, Neil Simon’s Rumors. He delivered the three-page monologue that crowns the play with convincingly bitter sarcasm.

Aware of a family audience, the Guilderland Players have made some subtle changes in this year’s comedy, said Maycock. For example, a character who, in most productions, appears on stage throughout the play in just her underwear, will wear a bathrobe instead in the Guilderland production, he said.

Younger kids will enjoy the play’s physical comedy, Maycock said, while the older members of the audience will get some of the more sophisticated humor.
Describing the play as "sheer lunacy," Maycock said it was "brilliantly conceived."

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The Guilderland Players at Guilderland High School, on School Road in Guilderland Center, will present Michael Frayn’s comedy, Noises Off, on Nov. 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Tickets cost $5 and may be purchased at the door.