‘Noises Off,’ cast, director succeed at daunting task

By Milan Paurich

The farcical play-within-a- play will tickle your funny bone.

“Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” While British actor/director Sir Donald Wolfit is attributed to that particular witticism, anyone who’s tread the boards will tell you that no truer words have ever been spoken.

Just ask Shawn Lockaton, director of “Noises Off,” which premiered at the Youngstown Playhouse on Friday night. One of the most respected actors in local community theater circles (“Titanic,” “Batboy: The Musical”), Lockaton has bravely chosen Michael Frayn’s acclaimed 1982 farce to make his directorial debut.

If comedy is hard, helming an old-fashioned breakneck farce where pacing is everything and slamming doors need to have metronomelike precision can be absurdly difficult. And because “Noises Off” is a play about a small-scale theatrical disaster, the metaphoric implications are staggering.

Not helping matters is an unwieldy, overlong first act where it’s difficult to tell the difference between deliberate and accidental incompetence. Director Lloyd Dallas (Terry Shears) is being driven batty by a troupe of second-rate actors during dress rehearsal for a cheesy sex romp called “Nothing On.”

Playing a maid whose Cockney accent turns “Spain” into “Spine,” Dotty (Linda Spencer) appears flummoxed by a simple routine involving the placement of sardines.

The rest of the cast isn’t appreciably better. Besides being hard-of-hearing, Selsdon (Denny Villa) is an old lush who doesn’t understand his blocking. High-strung Garry (Jonathan Sauline in an energetic Playhouse debut) seems on the verge of an aneurism while co-star Brooke (Alyssa Connelly) can’t seem to get her lines straight — or keep her clothes on. Frederick (Victor Garcia) and Belinda (Maria Wright) do their best not to bump into the scenery.

Watching these stumblebums repeatedly bungle their lines and miss cues becomes as wearying for the audience as it does for Lloyd and his long-suffering stage manager Poppy (a delightful Rachel Rossi). Lockaton never seems to find a consistent tone for all of the theatrical busy-ness, and Act One flounders when it should be soaring with gales of laughter.

Fortunately, Lockaton and his tireless ensemble of honey-baked hams find their bearings in Act Two. Set backstage during a predictably disastrous matinee performance of “Nothing On” one month later, the play’s midsection is highlighted by some inspired bits of pantomime. Also coming into focus is Lloyd’s lecherousness: He’s currently juggling affairs with Brooke and a visibly pregnant Poppy.

The final act is an actual performance of the play-within-a-play that we’ve only seen in rehearsals or from a backstage perspective until now. It’s near the end of the show’s run, and the actors can barely conceal their contempt for each other (and “Nothing On”) any longer. In other words, anything that can go wrong most definitely will. Slapsticky mayhem (including retrieving cactus quills from Lloyd’s posterior) and hilarity ensue, climaxing the production — and the evening — on a high note.

The performances are uniformly strong (including Brian Lee as a bumbling stagehand), and scenic designer Jim Lybarger deserves kudos for another superb, two-level Playhouse set.

I was a little puzzled that Lockaton chose to retain the play’s British colloquialisms since the action has clearly been transferred stateside (words such as bloody and fortnight sound peculiar spoken with American accents). Yet, despite its occasional pacing glitches and tonal inconsistencies, “Noises Off” remains a drolly amusing divertissement sure to tickle the funny bone of even the most jaded community theater habitu .