UF College of Fine Arts and the School of Theatre and Dance to present summer musical, ‘Noises Off’

June 4, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s College of Fine Arts and the School of Theatre and Dance will present the comedy classic “Noises Off” on June 4-6 and July 16, 18, 22 and 24.

English playwright Michael Frayn was inspired to create “Noises Off” in 1970, while standing in the wings watching a performance of “Chinamen,” a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. According to the playwright, “It was funnier from behind than in front and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.” The prototype, a short-lived one-act play entitled “Exits,” was written and performed in 1977. At the request of an associate, Frayn expanded the play into what became “Noises Off.”

Each of the three acts of “Noises Off” contains a performance of the first act of “Nothing On,” the dreadful English bedroom farce the company is attempting to put up. The first act follows the final rehearsal for the play in which the company works through dropped lines, missed cues, missing actors, professional frustrations and complications in their personal relationship. The second act finds the company backstage of a matinee performance about a month into the run in which a series of misunderstandings, personal dramas and accidents cause cleavages between the actors and invoke sometimes physical responses from each other as they dart onstage to make their cues and back offstage to deal with one another. In the final act, the audience is treated to one of the company’s final performances in which the actors attempt to keep the show going despite the fallout of their personal grudges and myriad unending onstage mishaps.

The show will run June 4-5 and July 16, 22 and 24 at 7:30 p.m., and on June 6 and July 18 at 2 p.m. in the Constans Theatre.

Tickets are $13 for students, faculty, staff and senior citizens with a valid ID, and $17 for the general public. Call the University Box Office at 352-392-1653 or reserve online at www.ticketmaster.com. The theater is air-conditioned and handicapped accessible. On-campus parking is available at the Reitz Union parking garage and Museum Road parking lot.