Lindsay Posner directs The Old Vic production of Michael Frayn's irresistible, multi-award-winning backstage comedy Noises Off.
Enjoyed by millions of people worldwide since it premiered in 1982 and hailed as one of the greatest British comedies ever written.
Winner of both Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Comedy, this celebrated play serves up a riotous double bill - a play within a play. Hurtling along at breakneck speed it follows the backstage antics of a touring theatre company as they stumble their way through rehearsals to a shambolic first night and a final disastrous performance.
Noises Off is a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn. The idea for it was born in 1970, when Frayn was standing in the wings watching a performance of Chinamen, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. According to the playwright, "It was funnier from behind than in front and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind." The prototype, a short-lived one-act play entitled Exits, was written and performed in 1977. At the request of associate Michael Codron, Frayn expanded the play into what would become Noises Off.
Cast list: Celia Imrie, Janie Dee, Robert Glenister, Jamie Glover, Karl Johnson & Paul Ready
'Michael Frayn's comic masterpiece'
The Daily Telegraph
'A deliriously funny and beautifully cast’
The Independent
'Foot-stompingly, seal-honkingly hysterical'
The Sunday Times
'Flawless farce... gloriously revived'
The Guardian
'An infallible escape into happiness'
The Daily Telegraph
'Fantastic... I giggled myself silly throughout'
The Observer
'I certainly hadn't laughed so hard for ages... Fabulous'
Daily Express
'Immensely funny'
Time Out
'Lindsay Posner's fantastic pick-me-up of a production'
The Observer