An Ingenious Comedy ‘Noise Off’ Misses Some, But Still Delivers Plenty Of Laughs

“Noises Off” through Oct. 7, at the Valley Repertory Theatre

They say tragedy is easy, and comedy is hard. Nowhere is that more true than in “Noises Off.”

This marvelous and ingenious Michael Frayn comedy requires all of its cast members to have split-second timing; it requires its director to have the organizational skills of a field marshal.

Which is why the Valley Rep and director Alice Quinn deserve so much credit for pulling this off so nicely. The laughs build and build all the way up to the hysterical third act.

In the first act, we see an inept British acting troupe in the final rehearsal of a bad bedroom farce called “Nothing On.” In the second act, we see a performance in midtour, but we see it entirely from backstage. In the third act, the set turns around again, and we see the final performance from the audience’s point of view again. Only this time, we have a pretty good idea what all those punching noises from backstage mean.

In the first act, I was willing only to award the cast the equivalent of the “Rose Bruford Medal for Effort,” to borrow a line from the parody program for “Nothing On.” They were trying hard, but the British accents were shaky and many of the laughs in the script were smothered.

But the entire cast soon warmed up, and by the third act, it had hit its stride. I especially liked Lori Genna as the dotty Dotty, who turns hilariously bitter in the third act; Charlie Driskell as the all-too-sincere Frederick, who keeps trying to make his entrance while chaos reigns; James Quinn as Roger, who gamely attempts to improvise his lines with disastrous results; Nikki Egan, as Belinda, who tries to hold the show together; and Dan Pederson, as the spectacularly drunk Selsdon.

I also liked Barry E. Wallace as the beleaguered director, Lloyd; Heather Ricks as Poppy; Dmitri Arbacauskas as Tim; and Amy Townsend as Brooke.

The Valley Rep successfully delivers only about one in four of the laughs in the script, which may not sound like a lot, but in this show, that’s still plenty. A professional production I saw in Seattle delivered only about one out of every two jokes, which was still enough to make it one of the funniest pieces of theater I’ve ever seen.

This production didn’t approach that level. Some laughs were lost strictly through faulty timing. For instance, the closing line of the second act, “I’m pregnant!,” lost its impact because it needs to be shouted out at just the right moment, with a beat of silence right after it. It was simply lost in the chaos.

But there were dozens of laughs that were delivered perfectly, especially when the troupe of “Nothing On” gamely attempts to fight its way (literally) to the end of the most disastrous performance of any play in British stage history.

Special credit goes to the entire technical crew, led by set designer Amy Critchfield and stage manager Paul Wilson, for making this large and complicated set work in the Rep’s intimate space.

One other thing: Be sure and read the parody program for “Nothing On,” included in the regular program. It’s a clever bit of satire all by itself.

, DataTimes