Noises Off —Zhuoya Li
“Noises off” is a comedy that shows the behind scene in theater. It is about the story of a theater team going through a play called “Nothing On”. Although “Noises Off” is a pretty funny comedy to watch, but it still has many judgments among different people. Some people see it as the best comedy that has ever written, but some people think it is long and vulgar.
The setting of the “Noises Off” is unique. Act I begins with Lloyd nervous trough the beginning of his Broadway show, “Nothing On.” He is very inquietude because he thinks that his actors will screw the show up. While time flash to their last dress rehearsal, we could understand why—the casts were hopelessly unready. They were breaking their characters and crews were messing up with almost everything. Dotty keeps forgetting the sardines and newspaper; Garry keeps arguing about the lines with Lloyd; Brooke keeps loosing her lens and has no idea about what is going on next. They were totally off the places but they do have complicate love between several of them. Aside from normal comedy, the romance turned to sour and jealousy love in this play. Misunderstandings among casts lead the show “Nothing on” to an extremely bad show.
Act II is happened in a theater at Miami Beach. It is fun to watch the show “Nothing On” from a different perspective—the entire Act takes place at the back stage. Because of the complicate love they have, their jealousy and sourness, the show fails disordered before the curtain goes down. In this Act, since it is from the back stage, everyone in the play seems so real. The performance is hit, in particular, the performance of old man Selsdon finding whiskey, brings this show to a very messed up situation to a large extant. Music, background sounds, coincidence errors make the show a funny and unique comedy.
Act III is when everything gets out of control. When Dotty starts to make small mistakes, she decides to make up lines form top of her head. Brooke seems giving up as well, she as an experienced actress starts to ignore the other casts. She was just saying her lines even it is not really appropriate at the time. They were totally screwed at this place, but surprisingly, the feedback from the audiences was pretty good. They laughed and laughed, the show wins a huge success.
I would have to say the setting is different from most of plays I have ever watched. This is one thing that makes the play “Noises Off” the huge success and judgmental play. From the ideas to the setting, I think “Noises Off” is a pretty funny and enjoyable show. I watched it like two or three times to get the essence out of it. I have to admit that it is kind of long and cumbersome at first glance, but only after taking a closer look and read the lines can I enjoy watching the show. In the end, it is a show that I will definitely remember.