Noises Off

Noises Off by Michael Frayn was originally performed and published in 1982. It ran in English theaters until 1987, was revived in 2000, and began running in the United States in 2001. Frayn’s career as a professional playwright began in 1970, and Noises Off brought him significant critical and commercial success. It was followed many other successful plays, including the Tony-award-winning Copenhagen (1998). Noises Off won the London Evening Standard Award and the Laurence Olivier Award in the 1980s. In 1992, it was adapted into a movie. Frayn has also written best-selling novels, including Headlong (1999) and Spies (2002).

Noises Off is a bedroom farce or sex farce: a comedy that revolves around mistaken identities, precise staging, physical gags, sexual innuendos, and sexual liaisons, usually within a closed, domestic setting. Noises Off is structured as a play within a play, and the action follows a theater company as it rehearses and performs a play entitled Nothing On. Both titles are theater jokes that are developed as the play’s action unfolds. “Noises off” is the term used by actors to refer to accidental noise heard by the audience from off stage. “Nothing on” literally means that nothing is being shown on stage, as well as being a pun for a state of undress. Frayn explores the themes of The Repetition and Doubling Involved in Farce, The Relationship Between Personal and Professional Lives of Actors, and Theater Reflecting Life’s Own Absurdities and Complexities.

This guide refers to the 2000 Anchor Books edition. 

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of substance use.

Plot Summary

A provincial touring theater company headed by Lloyd Dallas, the director, and Dotty Otley, the main actress and investor, is putting on a play called Nothing On. The theater company characters of Noises Off also include stage manager Tim Allgood and assistant stage manager Poppy Norton-Taylor. The action concerns the first act of Nothing On, and the other two acts are never seen; the three acts of Noises Off include action from the first act only. 

The action of Nothing On is broken up somewhat, as it takes place within the framing play of Noises Off, including the actor-characters’ rehearsal discussions and offstage action. The setting of Nothing On is the country home of Philip and Flavia Brent, played by Frederick Fellowes and Belinda Blair. Dotty plays the Brents’ housekeeper, Mrs. Clackett, who is visiting the house on her day off to use the Brents’ television. The Brents visit their house for a romantic getaway, expecting it to be empty. A leasing agent is visiting the house unannounced—Roger Tramplemain, played by Garry Lejeune. Roger brings his date, Vicki—played by Brooke Ashton—for a secret liaison, presenting her as a possible tenant for the house. Vicki works for Inland Revenue and is also the daughter of an unnamed burglar who breaks into the house, played by Selsdon Mowbray. 

The farcical premise of Nothing On is that all the characters think that the house is empty. Both couples are hoping to use the place for their trysts but face unexpected obstacles. Philip becomes distracted from sex by a letter from Inland Revenue, while Garry and Vicki are distracted by signs of occupancy, such as objects being moved and hearing voices. Mrs. Clackett, when asked by Garry, denies that anyone else is in the house. Philip has asked her to do this since he is supposed to be in Spain. As the various characters move around the house covertly, they encounter each other in different combinations, leading to multiple cases of mistaken identities and misunderstandings. The burglar is confronted and claims to be a plumber. Once everyone has met everyone else, the burglar reveals that he is Vicki’s father and suggests that they all have a plate of sardines. The end of the act shows the characters eating sardines together in the kitchen.

The first act of Noises Off centers on the dress rehearsal of Nothing On. During rehearsal, the actors struggle with their props, such as multiple plates of sardines, a newspaper, and a telephone. They also struggle with the set’s many doors, which Tim has to repair. The company is very concerned that Selsdon will sneak away for a drink and stops to look for him multiple times before his entrance. An older man, Selsdon has trouble hearing what Lloyd and the others say. Lloyd, meanwhile, is in the middle of a love triangle with Brooke and Poppy; they don’t know he’s unfaithful until the end of Act I. Garry and Dotty are dating and are demonstrative with each other during rehearsal. Frederick’s wife left him that morning, and he is miserable about it. Belinda gossips about all these romances. Lloyd struggles to direct the actors as they frequently stop, such as when Frederick asks for character motivations. Selsdon misses his entrances and forgets his lines, especially the last word of Nothing On’s first act: “sardines.”

The second act of Noises Off portrays a performance of Nothing On after the company has been on the road for about a month. The action of Act II is set backstage, while the first act of Noises Off runs on the fictional stage. The onstage action of Nothing On can be heard and seen in parallel by the audience of Noises Off. The need for silence backstage leads to many misunderstandings. Lloyd sends Tim to buy flowers and tries to give them to Brooke because she is threatening to leave the show. However, the flowers end up in the hands of other women. There are multiple moments when Brooke sees Lloyd with Poppy, and vice versa, in what seem to be intimate encounters and that inspire jealousy. There are also many moments when Garry and Dotty see each other with another person, leading to jealousy. These lead to Garry spilling sardines on Dotty’s head, threatening people with an axe, and tying together the sheets that Brooke and Frederick wear on stage. Dotty ties Garry’s shoelaces together.

Lloyd tries to give Brooke a bottle of whiskey, which is repeatedly stolen by Selsdon. Others also drink from the bottle when they are overwhelmed by the various backstage antics. After buying three bouquets of flowers and depleting the florist’s stock, Tim buys a cactus for Brooke. When Garry sees Lloyd looking for Brooke’s missing contact lens in Dotty’s clothes and mistakes this for a sexual advance, he pokes Lloyd in the derriere with the cactus. Dotty has to remove the needles from Lloyd’s flesh. At the end of Act II, Poppy tells Lloyd that she is pregnant with his baby as Selsdon asks for a prompt of the last word. When Poppy says “baby,” Selsdon thinks she says “gravy” and says that instead of “sardines.”

The third act is another performance of Act I of Nothing On, this time seen from the audience’s perspective. The company’s increasing backstage conflict can only be heard, not seen. Tim and Poppy have to announce a delay in starting the show because of a fight between Belinda and Dotty about Frederick, which is overheard by the audience. The sardines end up on the floor, in the newspaper, and down Belinda’s dress. Belinda also takes the phone receiver backstage, winding the cord around the set; it has to be unwound in an improbable way by Frederick and Belinda. Brooke is unable to improvise to overcome difficulties. Both Dotty and Frederick talk about the sardines instead of delivering their lines, but Frederick is able follow Belinda’s improvisations. A whiskey bottle ends up on stage in various places, and the bags and boxes are misplaced.

Frederick falls down the backstage stairs, and Dotty, on stage, has to mime to the sounds he makes. Tim briefly goes on for Frederick, causing Frederick to lose his place in the script when he comes back on stage and repeats the wrong lines. Belinda and Garry struggle when one of the door handles comes off. Garry falls down the stairs on stage. Everyone misses their correct exits, and they all end up on stage together. Frederick repeats the burglar’s cue, which causes Tim, Selsdon, and Lloyd to each individually come out as the burglar and deliver his monologue together. Belinda pulls Lloyd away from the others and exclaims that he is their social worker and will tell them what to do.

Lloyd gets stage fright and can only gesture. Belinda interprets and directs everyone to grab sardines, go through all the doors, and grab the bags and box. Then, she improvises a happy ending, which is Lloyd’s wedding. Because of confusion, there are two brides, Brooke and Poppy. The cast calls for the last line. Selsdon once again forgets the word “sardines,” although he is surrounded by plates of sardines. Tim has to run off stage to pull the curtain. It fails to come all the way down, the actors rip it off, and it falls on top of them.