LAUGH-A-MINUTE FUN
When English playwright Michael Frayn wrote his slapstick farce in 1982, it bore little resemblance to the production that opened Saturday night at the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto. It started out as a one-act play called Exits, but was later expanded into the production Palo Alto Players is offering theatergoers. Noises Off starts off by announcing in large letters on the curtain that the “play-within-a-play” here is called Nothing On.
Dotty Otley (Kimberly Mohne Hill) rehearses her role of Mrs. Clackett
The wacky script gets a thoroughly chuckle-inducing production here, thanks to strong direction by Linda Piccone and a dandy cast of nine actors, most of whom play two roles: The actors and the roles they rehearse and perform in Nothing On.
Garry Lejeune (Brandon Silberstein) and Brooke Ashton (Adriana Hokk) struggle to rehearse their roles of Roger and Vicki in Nothing On
At rise is Kimberly Mohne Hill as Dotty Otley who plays the housekeeper Mrs. Clackett. This is supposed to be final rehearsal before the play opens the next evening, and Otley is trying to get her exit right to appease the demanding director, Lloyd Dallas (a fine portrayal by Kyle Dayrit). But Dallas knows that the performers are not even close to being ready to open the show the next day. He screams, yells and cajoles them, mostly to no avail because they don’t have their lines or movements down pat.
Lloyd Dallas (Kyle Dayrit) struggles to direct Selsdon Mowbray (David Boyll) as the Burglar
Brandon Silberstein is Garry Lejeune, playing Rodger, the real estate agent who brings to a country estate his lovely associate, Vicki, played by Brooke Ashton (a hilarious Adriana Hokk) to spend the afternoon lovemaking. Garry assumes the house is empty because the owners are in Spain, but the housekeeper Mrs. Otley is there.
Frederick Fellows (William Rhea) rehearses the role of Phillip Brent
There’s a fascinating subplot of who is sleeping with whom–not on stage because that’s all scripted, but in their “private” lives: Apparently Dallas is involved with both Brooke and stage manager Poppy Norton-Taylor (a sweet take by Sierra Bolar). At one point, Poppy will blurt out a surprising announcement so that everyone in the audience during a performance hears her stunning proclamation. Dotty, meanwhile, is dating the much-younger Garry.
The company shares gossip at their final dress rehearsal of Nothing On
Hill is charming in both roles of Dotty and Mrs. Clackett, though the necessity of having an English accent and the sometimes-unreliable sound system at Lucie Stern Theater occasionally made her difficult to understand. Silberstein gets kudos for faking a fall down a flight of stairs and ending up in one piece. Another terrific turn is by David Boyle as both actor Selsdon Mowbray and a burglar–actually one of three burglars who turn up by play’s end. The running joke is that Selsdon has a drinking problem, so when a bottle of whiskey shows up, it gets tossed, thrown, nearly broken, and then finally opened and a number of the actors backstage take a swig or two. Just about everyone imbibes but Selsdon.
Selsdon Mowbray (David Boyll) begs for whiskey while Garry Lejeune (Brandon Silberstein)
begs for forgiveness from Dotty Otley (Kimberly Mohne Hill)
William Rhea as Frederick Fellows as homeowner Philip Brent, and Michelle Skinner as Belinda Blair and his wife Flavia Brent are great. Rhea, especially, is fun to watch as Fellows has a huge fear of any kind of violence and blood–both of which causes him to get nosebleeds, which happens a lot. Skinner as the long-suffering wife finds a tiny dress belonging to Vicki in her bedroom. She thinks Frederick has bought it for her, but since it’s way too small for her, she says she’ll put it away in the attic along with all the other things Frederick has bought her that no longer fit her frame. She’s also involved in something to do with a red hot-water bottle, that seems to appear and then disappear, along with a box and a TWA travel bag.
Garry Lejeune (Brandon Silberstein) and Belinda Blair (Michelle Skinner)
get into a tussle backstage
Another running gag is when both Poppy and the beleaguered assistant stage manager Tim Allgood (Braden Taylor) constantly step in to announce how long it will be until the second act begins. Poppy announces five minutes, then rushes offstage; Tim hasn’t heard her and says into a microphone that Act II will begin in two minutes. Poppy returns and tells the audience it will begin in three minutes. This goes on for so long that Dallas finally shows up backstage to tell them both to stop making announcements at all.
Belinda Blair (Michelle Skinner), Dotty Otley (Kimberly Mohne Hill),
Lloyd Dallas (Kyle Dayrit), and Selsdon Mowbray (David Boyll)
Noises Off is performed in three acts with two intermissions. The first act (1:10 minutes) is the audience view of the country house set during rehearsal; the second act (about an hour) shows us the backstage antics during a performance; and the third act (a scant 37 minutes) is back to the country house after a long run.
Things keep going wrong backstage for the company
For the door-slamming antics, there needs to be many doors on both levels, so props to scenic designer Camryn Lang for creating both sets–the one the audience sees and then the backstage one. Katie Strawn’s spot on costumes for the 1980s are awesome, though it must have been difficult to create such tiny tight outfits for Hokk. Rue Zadik is responsible for the lighting.
Belinda Blair (Michelle Skinner) tries to help Garry Lejeune (Brandon Silberstein)
get to the end of the play after a nasty fall as Dotty Otley (Kimberly Mohne Hill) watches
Noises Off is a laugh-filled night for adults, but younger viewers should be over the age of 10. There’s also sardines. Lots and lots of sardines.
photos by Scott Lasky
Noises Off
Palo Alto Players
Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto
ends on February 2, 2025
for tickets ($20-$63), call 650.329.0891 or visit PA Players
Joanne Engelhardt is a former San Jose Mercury and Santa Cruz Sentinel writer and theatre critic and is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: [email protected]
