PLAY REVIEW Audience gets to watch what goes on backstage

The actors are convincing in their madcap antics.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LISBON -- "Noises Off" is advertised as a play in three acts.
There's Act One, followed by Act One and then comes the conclusion, Act One.
Yes, the play being performed by Stage Left Players of Lisbon consists of the same act over and over again. But, don't worry; you won't be bored.
You may be a little dizzy by the end, but you won't be bored.
"Noises Off" is a play within a play. It begins with Dotty Otley, an absent-minded housekeeper, bumbling through her lines. She's portrayed in convincing fashion by Kandace Cleland.
The audience soon learns this isn't your typical play when bombastic director Lloyd Dallas, played loudly and believably by Eric Kibler, booms directions to Dotty from the back of the crowd. Kibler is trying to lead his insecure cast through the final rehearsal before the opening night of their play "Nothing On."
The first act has a few amusing moments but serves mostly as a setup for the next two Act Ones.
The twist comes when Act One is repeated -- only this time it's one month later and the audience watches from backstage.
Director's job
Here's where the work of director Craig Snay shines. The timing of the performers is crisp, despite some difficult demands.
The characters' lives have disintegrated into mayhem. The backstage is like a three-ring circus with characters wielding an ax, fighting over a whiskey bottle and sabatoging one another's performances.
But when their cue comes, they are back into character, through the door and back on stage. Only this time, the characters on stage are heard only because the audience remains backstage amid the zaniness.
The set has been constructed so that it is reversed from stage to backstage between acts.
On the third time through, the audience sees the stage again, but now it's the last stop for the traveling company. This act gets the most laughs because by now the characters don't care about sticking to the lines of "Nothing On." It seems like the same play but with some unusual twists.
While it's often difficult to figure out why one character is mad at another or who's in love with whom, the slapstick gags certainly keep the audience's attention.
Convincing performances
All of the cast members are convincing in their roles.
Snay also plays Garry LeJuene, one of the men who grow increasingly befuddled by the backstage craziness.
Anna Sturgeon is particularly believable as the ditzy Brooke Ashton, who spends much of the play clad only in black undergarments.
For those thinking of taking children: Ashton and Belinda Blair, portrayed by Marci Hunter, are most interested in getting their men to follow them into the bedroom. They never quite make it, however, because of the madcap antics going on. There also is one strong profanity.
Also performing were Kari Lankford and Ryan Gillis, the earnest stagehands; Jack Eilber, whose character is injured in all sort of ways; and Dave Wack, the aging actor who doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
Audience members may not understand what all the fuss is about either, but they will be surprised at how well all these actors pull off a night of zany fun.