{"id":107653,"date":"2024-07-04T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T00:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=107653"},"modified":"2024-07-04T17:59:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T00:59:11","slug":"noises-off-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/noises-off-3\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Noises Off’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Theater Review of ‘Noises Off’ at Novato Theater Company<\/strong><\/div>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0by\u00a0Mitchell Field<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0a member of the<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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I broke a New Year’s resolution last week.<\/strong><\/div>\n
I went to see a show which I have seen before, something which I had resolved not to do, reasoning that there are so many new shows to see, as well as older ones which I have never seen.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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In fact, I had\u00a0twice\u00a0<\/em>before\u00a0seen this particular show, Novato Theater Company’s (NTC) production of the now 90 year-old British dramatist Michael Frayne’s ‘Noises Off’<\/em>, which\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0critic Frank<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>Rich\u00a0<\/a>claimed\u00a0‘is, was, and probably always will be, the funniest play written in my lifetime’.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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‘Noises Off ‘\u00a0premiered on Broadway in 1983 and it’s slapstick, door-slamming buffoonery has been a staple of both professional and community theaters ever since.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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The lure of one theater’s funniest and most irreverent farces, coupled with the directorial talents of Bay Area stage favorite Carl Jordan, winner of\u00a0<\/strong>numerous\u00a0<\/strong>‘Best Director’ awards from the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle (SFBATCC), made me reconsider and Jordan and his NTC team didn’t disappoint.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Frayne’s clever set-up is a three-act farce, a play-within-a-play, which features a seedy theater company rehearsing a cheesy sex-comedy, seen first from the audience’s perspective, the subsequent out-of-town performance from backstage in Act II, then from the audience’s perspective again in Act III.\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Using theater\u00a0<\/strong>set-design\u00a0<\/strong>wizardry on NTC’s wide but shallow stage, Marin’s Michael Walraven creates a marvelous revolving affair, which facilitates perfectly the Monty Python-like nincompoopery of the piece.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Jordan’s evenly-balanced\u00a0<\/strong>cast\u00a0<\/strong>features Marin stage favorite Heather Shepardson, NTC newcomers Jeffrey Biddle, Diego Hardy, Mike Pavone and Melody Payne, all well-supported by locals Sky Collins, Jane Harrington and Rachel Kaiulani-Kennely and the perennially solid Wood Lockhart, as t<\/strong>he doddering\u00a0<\/strong>Selsdon, a veteran actor with a drinking problem and the show\u00a0<\/strong>is skillfully lit by SFBATCC award-winning Frank Sarubbi, his 48th assignment for NTC.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Novato Theater Company, like many theater companies around the country are rebuilding post-pandemic and were recently the recipients of four SFBATCC awards for their production of\u00a0‘Addams Family’. ‘Noises Off’<\/em>\u00a0has already been awarded a ‘GO SEE’ nomination from the SFBATCC.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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‘Noises Off’,\u00a0<\/em>which runs through July 14 2024 is a laugh-out-loud affair, ‘guaranteed to delight’\u00a0<\/em>both first-timers and those familiar with the show.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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What:\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>‘Noises Off’<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
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Where:\u00a0 \u00a0Novato Theater Company,\u00a0 5420 Nave Drive, Novato, CA. 94949<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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When:\u00a0 \u00a0 Through July 14 2024\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Fri & Sat at 7.30 Sundays at 2 pm\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 (additional performance Thurs. July 11 at 7.30)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Why:\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0For the laughs and to support local theater.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Theater Review of ‘Noises Off’ at Novato Theater Company \u00a0 \u00a0by\u00a0Mitchell Field \u00a0 \u00a0a member of the \u00a0 \u00a0San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle… I broke a New Year’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"yes","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[550],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-107653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-mitchell-field"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"