HPC presents play within a play in ‘Noises Off’

Dane McGrowder arts & culture contributor

This past week, the Hinman Production Company (HPC) put on a rendition of “Noises Off,” a frenetic, comical bedroom farce about a band of colorful actors performing a fictional play.

Considered “the funniest farce ever written,” “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn portrays a cast of messy, chaotic actors as they stumble through shows of an inuniverse play called “Nothing On.” While the production of “Nothing On” appears to be the initial focus of the plot, the characters as they exist outside of the play quickly take center stage.

Director Alessandra Antonacci, a junior majoring in English, described the main hallmarks of the show.

“One — strange sexual pairings,” Antonacci said. “Two — lots of doors, and three — a borderline nonsensical plot.”

Tying “Noises Off’s” plot together is its humor, which kept the show engaging and inspired Antonacci to direct it.

“When I talked about wanting to direct a comedy, ‘Noises Off’ was always on the roster of suggestions,”

Antonacci said. “I researched the show and fell in love with the comedy, but also the meta aspect of it being a play within a play.”

The meta aspect of “Noises Off” is arguably the most central element of its story, as the actors on stage continuously switch between the personas of their characters and the personas their characters perform in “Nothing On.” While the first and third acts are framed around the rehearsal and shows of “Nothing On,” the play’s comedy and characters truly shine in the second act. Recontextualizing the scene displayed during Act I, Act II is a lengthy, detailed stunt sequence in which characters bicker, drink and threaten each other’s lives mere moments before they return to the performance. Despite the second act employing less dialogue, the fast-paced slapstick comedy serves to both elevate the drama and characterize the actors beyond their roles in “Nothing On.”

“There are moments when every character is on stage and three different stunt sequences are happening at once, all of the doors are opening and closing and at least one person is getting threatened with an ax,” Antonacci said. “You have to watch it multiple times to really grasp the full scope of what’s going on.”

Luke Sullivan, a sophomore majoring in history who played Lloyd, “Nothing On’s” exacting, melodramatic director, also highlighted the interplay between the audience’s understanding of the characters in “Nothing On” and “Noises Off” as a unique part of his experience performing for the show.

“It was interesting to see the character work on different levels,” Sullivan said. By Act III, the play has almost entirely fallen apart as the line between performance and reality dissolved, with actors actively forgetting their lines mid-scene, multiple actors appearing as the same character and props disappearing and reappearing throughout the fracas. During the March 24 show, this degradation had progressed so far that when actor John Ferrara — a sophomore majoring in biology who played Gary Lejeune — jumped off stage to shake his father by the collar, it was difficult to discern whether or not the audience themselves had been brought into the play’s world. Likewise, building on the discord of the first and second acts, conflicts such as Lloyd’s involvement with actress Brooke and stage manager Poppy bleed into the final showing of “Nothing On.”

In the words of Antonacci, by the final — malfunctioning — curtain of “Nothing On,” we’ve gotten “to know and love the messiest characters you can think of through their jokes, gags and relationships.”

The next play produced by the HPC, “Something Rotten,” is set to begin showing in mid-April.