Friday, March 29

Tag: Lucy Robinson

Noises Off – Storyhouse Chester
North West

Noises Off – Storyhouse Chester

A packed Storyhouse laughed out loud at a comedy that still manages to deliver. It’s over 40 years since Michael Frayn wrote Noises Off, which has been described as ‘the funniest farce’ and is probably the inspiration for the ‘Goes Wrong’ series that is now popular.  Bedroom Farce was a type of theatre in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but then fell out of popularity when public sensibilities saw them as sexist and rather degrading. Noises Off is a play within a play about the farcical antics of a theatre company trying to present ‘Nothing On’ - an actual farce. Frayn shows that what goes on backstage is often funnier than what happens on stage but when it all gets mixed up, it’s hilarious. There have been many plays since that revisit this subject: David Tristam’s Little Grimley Series might...
Blithe Spirit – Harold Pinter Theatre
London

Blithe Spirit – Harold Pinter Theatre

Noel Coward’s comedy about death and spirits has been playing at theatres around the world since 1941. Enjoying immense success during a time of war when death hung over every household like a persistent mist, it tapped into our innate fascination with the supernatural to tell us more about our present circumstances. Not only was it been adapted into a musical and a feature film, but it also continues to remain a popular choice for adaptation by theatre companies around the world. I remember seeing a version of Blithe Spirit myself in the University of Delhi, wherein the story had been contextualized for an upper class contemporary Indian society. This universal relatability of the text and its characters is an ode to its timeless nature, still drawing packed audiences to date. In this pr...