Review-Noises Off-Hong Kong Rep
5-11-12
By: Stephanie Ip
Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, a classic British farce based on the concept of “a play within a play”, is not your average slapstick comedy where clothes keep coming off, doors keep slamming and sardines keep disappearing. To fellow thespians, this play is an inside joke, an exaggerated – yet not-far-off – depiction of the chaos and calamity behind a running theatre production. To everyone else, it is a refreshing backstage perspective and a study of how real-life drama could affect on-stage performances.
The Cantonese adaptation of Noises Off was first played in 1986. This year’s revival brings back veteran Chung King-fai as director, who has overseen this play six times before, and also uses Frayn’s newest edition of the play to keep with the times.
The rotatable set is a standard for any Noises Off production, with stairs to the left, numerous doors and a backdrop designed as - well, the backdrop of any set. The cast is dressed in gaudy colours that scream, “Yes! We are a comedy!” Staying true to the original production values, the show’s programme notes even come with a copy of the programme for Nothing On, complete with biographies of the fictitious cast.
One of my first concerns, upon observing that 99.9% of the audience was Chinese, was how a full Cantonese adaptation albeit with English surtitles was going to appeal to an English audience. Why pay to squint at words for close to three hours while missing on the actual scenes unfolding onstage? The text only provided half the humour; the other half lay with the actors’ delivery.
I need not have worried. This production had a stellar cast who distinctly embodied the different theatrical stereotypes. Chinese or not, performing artists or not, you would be hard pressed not to recognize the seasoned drunk, the clueless young actress, or the veteran actor who ceaselessly tries to outguess his director as they rehearsed belatedly for the opening of a rather foolish sex comedy called Nothing On.
This is particularly true in the second act, when the stage was reversed and we experienced the opening of Nothing On from behind. We watch as the actors alternately “go onstage” to play their parts, and come “backstage” to act out their ever-escalating grudges against each other. Words here were superfluous. The intricate web of mistimed cues, misplaced props, and mishaps stemming from acts of silent revenge stood on its own.
The only quarrel I have is that, bordering on three hours (with 15 minutes intermission), the play felt a bit long and did nothing for my sore back. And maybe here’s why even a Cantonese adaptation of Noises Off would appeal to an English audience. Forgetting lines and falling in love with your fellow cast members is stereo-typical theatre behaviour. It is also horrifically funny to see how actors channel their personal emotions into their characters, and watch them try to salvage a show that was going anywhere but smoothly. It is humour that is not hard to understand.
Noises Off is playing at Hong Kong City Hall through November 10th. For more information click here.
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24 August 2017