Noises Off

(seen at the Phoenix Theatre at the afternoon performance on 2nd February 2023). Some actors have now left the cast.

Just before lockdown, the monkey saw a 4 star production of this at the Garrick Theatre. It enjoyed it well enough to give it that rating, but wondered if the show was a little tired and somewhat over-rated.

This new version, using the same set, proves that the cast counts, and what a cast it is.

Joseph Millson steals the show as Garry Lejeune. Slapstick his forte, yet confident as a romantic lead to hold the show together with an iron grip on the stage and an audience dying to see just what his body will do next.

Unexpected love interest Dotty Otley, several years his senior, allows Felicity Kendal two solid hours of sardine entertainment. Her revulsion at the fish by the end of the third act is matched by a spiralling nose-dive into hilarious confusion. Back-referencing not only using the text but every movement and gesture built up throughout, it is a masterclass in acting and proof that to play comedy an actor must be sound in drama first.

As that “sound actor,” Jonathan Coy is wonderful as Frederick Fellowes. Stalwart of theatre yet thrown by just about everything from motivation to the slightest hint of violence. A potentially dull repetition, Coy comes up with ever more inventively detailed means to thwart himself.

Nearly as reliable, but with a far greater grip on the gossip, Tracy-Ann Oberman’s Belinda Blair is a vision in pink, reliable in a crisis and totally unable to extricate herself from the mesh into which she gleefully wraps her character.

Considerably more detached, young leading lady Sasha Frost as Brooke Ashton tunes in and out like a faulty wi-fi signal. Bringing the anachronistically stocking-clad persona up to date by embellishing her with dignity and self-control her confused moments when paying attention are cherishable.

Joining her in the tuned-out club, soused Seldon has Matthew Kelly finding nirvana. The art of playing a role completely straight in order to be hilarious is a gift. Kelly has always had it, and here he is lavish with it for our delight.

Pairing Stage Manager Tim Allgood (Hubert Burton) and Assistant Stage Manager Poppy Norton-Taylor (Pepter Lunkuse) as a hapless pair in a helpless situation brings out the best in both. Burton takes a more adult approach to the role, which pays off as events which he should be in control of overtake him. Lunkuse simply amuses as events mow her down with Burton pushing the mower.

And then there is our director. Alexander Hanson’s Lloyd Dallas is a talentless bully, overbearing womaniser and the scariest thing in the stalls since the price of ice-cream sold at the interval. He knows his job, but gets the production he deserves with the methods he employs.

Real director Lindsay Posner keeps the energy incredibly fast-flowing, so that even the tricky third act ends on a high. This is a gloriously cast and directed production, and first choice over “Nothing On” if choosing between them.