Noises Off is one of my very favorite comedies! As an performer that enjoyed a career as a classically trained dancer, physical theatre has always been one of my not-so-guilty pleasures. This is my second time directing this hysterical play here at Syosset High School and I’m enjoying the journey all over again. I love the play within a play format as this allows us to see theatre in all it’s glory and misfortunes… and laugh at it as well as laugh at us, theatre people.
And if ever there was a time we need a good laugh, it’s now! With tensions growing both in and outside our country, with the constant dramas playing out in Washington, and with all our struggles to stay focused on our work and our lives, comedy may be an answer. Maybe it’s the ONLY answer. As Robert Frost once put it, “If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” Or as Stephen Colbert tells us, “You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time. If you’re laughing, I defy you to be afraid.” So, this season, with Noises Off we aim to fulfill part of our mission with the Association of Creative Thespians and uplift the spirits of our community while creating great art.
What is farce made of? As Kierkegaard put it, “behind great comedy is the deepest suffering.” And Noises is perhaps the crowning achievement in farcical misery. We humans are addicted to disaster; a good movie about a conspiracy theory, a good end of the world film. And in farce, the catastrophes line up like the dominoes in “chaos theory,” where a disruption in one field inevitably leads to disruption in another. But luckily, unlike the inevitable unraveling of misdeeds in tragedy, farce graces us with the gift of laughter. As Michael Frayn puts it, “things go wrong, and they go wrong in a very complex and logically constructed way. One disaster leads to another, and then those two disasters lead to a third which is the essence of classical farce.” We all face the fear that we might not be able to go on. Noises Off blesses us with the chance to laugh in the face of that fear.
But Noises is considered by many theatre historians to be not only a great farce but a great play. What sets it above the lessors of its kind is Mr. Frayn’s lifelong obsession with “knowing the unknowable.” His other great play, Copenhagen, explores this same theme. And in Noises Off, he takes the traditional Feydeau sex farce with all its slamming doors, missing clothes, and obligatory stereotypes one step farther. By turning it all around in Act II, we are blessed to see behind the façade, behind the misery of the caricatures in Act I to the misery of the actors playing them, which then exponentially compounds the hilarious misery of the third act. It is this meta-theatricality of Noises, its peek inside the “unknowable,” that gives it an existential edge that lifts it beyond its genre.
We took on this incredibly challenge back at the beginning of September, and I am thrilled to be a part of such a dedicated team of artists bringing it to life. The student designers, technicians, and actors in particular have gone above and beyond to make Noises Off shine, and I couldn’t be prouder. Noises is a love letter to the theatre, but also a challenge. It’s thrilling and frustrating, hysterical and painstaking. I believe our students have more than risen to the challenge, and we are so excited to share it with you tonight.
We think Frayn’s love letter to the theatre is hilarious, and we hope as you join us on our journey, that you do too.
Connor
