The Screaming Nudey Lady Show (1): Noises Off to Aberdeen

When Michael Frayn explained the reasons for writing Noises Off, a farce set in the wings of a farce, he might have revealed while the art form had lost a great deal of its popularity in recent years. He was watching a production from the side of the stage, and realised that it was funnier watching the antics of the cast as they raced between scenes than paying attention to the script he had written. For Frayn, this led to a great success - Noises Off even transferred to the big screen and was panned. For the critics, it provides a handy guide to why those 1970s sex comedies have aged so badly.

http://www.chaseside.org.uk/theatre_casts/19945/noises.html

It's a play-within-a-play (the production that the cast are supposed to be performing is called Nothing On and has the range of stereotypes, women in their knick-knacks and slamming doors that makes the typical farce so tedious) and follows the company from rehearsal to despairing tour. Using the first act of Nothing On as a template, each of the three acts bounces around the script, revealing personal tensions, frustration, boredom and generally messing up the action. Self-aware enough to knock the absurdity of the farce format, hut familiar enough to be uncontroversial, it's a solid example of how theatre is able to tinker with its conventions without being completely self-indulgent.

Noises Off will begin its UK tour on March 27 and its first Scottish date will be at His Majesty Theatre where it will run from Monday to Saturday, May 6 to 11.