Arts & Entertainment
 

'Noises' serves up delicious laughter

Acting, material afford audiences a good experience

By Barrett Goldsmith
The Daily Cougar

The acting is woeful, the director is hapless and the play itself is marred by cliches and shallow characters.

Such is the dilemma for the participants of Nothing On, the fictional play at the center of Noises Off, which opened Friday at the UH School of Theatre.

Though the play itself is boring, the players inject their own offstage dramas into the onstage action, creating a vibrant and enjoyable spectacle that leaves the (real) audience reeling from mirthful laughter and a guilty sense of triumph at the play's spectacular failure. 

Noises Off is British farce at its most delicious, demonstrating the production of the play in three distinct stages. Act I shows the company in a dress/technical rehearsal only hours before the play is scheduled to open. The actors and director are hopelessly out of sync.

The second and third acts see those conflicts boil over into the actual play, as the audience sees the production both from backstage (Act II) and again from the audience, this time during an actual performance (Act III). 

Casting for this production is superb, and the company is solid.

Melissa N. Davis manages to portray the neuroticism and flakiness of Brooke (Vicki) without being one-dimensional, a trap many fall into when taking on the role. Brandon Hearnsberger admirably handles the role of Gary, a delightfully scatterbrained leading man with a tendency to ramble out an entire speech without really saying anything. 

No play is worth its salt without a director, and Andrew Love is the perfect glue to hold this chaotic show together. Love's Lloyd, a sarcastic and short-fused womanizer, is warm and likeable when he needs to be.

Other performers, all of whom handle their parts well, include Jenny Phillips (Dotty), Audra Resendez (Poppy), Jason Reynolds (Frederick), Bree Welch (Belinda), Daryl Banner (Tim) and Kalob Martinez (Selsdon).

The only flaws of the production spring from the inherent chaos of the play. The show sometimes suffers from a lack of order to the disorder. Perfect execution demands firm management of the bedlam, and the play seems to get away from the players at a few points.

Noises Off

UH Wortham Theatre

Playing: Friday-Sunday

The verdict: Off is on target with superb acting.

 Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu