Feature

Nothing hits its comedy mark like Noises Off

Front to back or back to front, Michael Frayn’s classic farce-within-a-farce must go on.

by Jo Litson on 25 May, 2017

In 1970, British playwright Michael Frayn stood in the wings and watched a performance of a farce he had written for Lynn Redgrave called The Two of Us. Struck by the thought that it was even funnier viewed from behind the scenes than from the stalls, he decided that at some point he would like to write a backstage farce.

Twelve years later, Frayn unleashed his 1982 comedy Noises Off, considered by many to be the funniest play ever written. It’s certainly one of the most intricately plotted and ingeniously constructed farces of all time. “I can’t quite fathom how Michael Frayn has managed to create something quite as brilliant as he has,” says Sam Strong, the Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre, who is currently directing the work as a co-production for QT and Melbourne Theatre Company with a cast that includes Simon Burke, Ray Chong Nee and Libby Munro.

Noises Off, Queensland Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company ^{Noises Off is a co-production between Queensland Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company}