BOSTON – For more than four decades, “Noises Off” has been making audiences around the world laugh. Now the play within a play is taking place at The Lyric Stage Company in Boston’s Back Bay.
The key is timing, balance and the set
Often called the ultimate farce, it’s heightened comedy, something director Ilyse Robbins knows is difficult to pull off well, telling us the set is key.
“Doors, doors, doors, doors, doors. They have to work. They have to slam. They have to slam, and they have to work. And then it has to happen all the time.”
For set designer Erik D. Diaz and lighting designer Seif Salotto-Cristobal, it’s all about balance.
Diaz explains, “A farce is all about near misses. It’s all about characters basically dancing around each other. As a set designer, you’re often left with, OK, we just have to focus on what the audience sees. But this is one of those few fun moments where we have to turn the whole thing around and share it with the audience so they can see what’s happening backstage during a show.
Salotto-Cristobal tells us: “Sound effect and lighting effect work together to really add, enhance and elevate those comedic moments in a farce and in a comedy where it is very easy to throw in an extra lighting effect that can be humorous , it can take away from all the action and performance that takes place on stage.
The actors understand that timing is everything.
“The Slamming Doors is kind of the heartbeat of the show. If you don’t get the rhythm, the timing is wrong. Every ‘oh’ matters, or every ‘eh’ matters. So it was a great challenge to create a kind of merge the physical and the very specific text of this show,” Grace Experience explains.
Lewis D. Wheeler adds, “It’s almost like a carefully designed Swiss watch or something, with all these elements that have to fit together perfectly. If one thing is out of place, the whole thing falls apart.”
And although there is no dancing, choreography is crucial.
“It’s like riding a wave or something, where you’re just riding that energy, and time passes, and it’s exciting. It’s really exciting. It gives you a great adrenaline rush,” says Wheeler.
Tickets for “Noises Off”
You can see “Noises Off” through December 22 at The Lyric Stage Company.
David Wade
