The Call Is Places

Noises OffOct 27 – Dec 16

2018–2019 SUBSCRIBER NEWSLETTER

McGuire Proscenium Stage

WELCOME

Playwright Michael Frayn drew his inspiration for Noises Off from a series of personal experiences. A moment in college when he was trapped onstage during a performance and kept tugging on an exit door until someone graciously yelled, “PUSH!” An installment of his humor column for The Observer where he mused about how actors might adjust a scene if a vital prop went missing. And, perhaps most pointedly, a rehearsal for his play The Two of Us where he found himself, while watching from the wings, far more intrigued by the backstage antics than the onstage action.

Frayn set to work turning these real-life observations into the fictional farce Noises Off, which opened on Broadway in 1983 to widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. It is inarguably one of the greatest contemporary farces of our time, built with the precision of a Swiss watch. I can think of no better ensemble to bring this dazzling show to life than our outstanding cast and creative team under the sharp direction of Meredith McDonough.

I’m thrilled that this uproarious take on the theater has finally made its way to the Guthrie stage. Throughout the show, you’ll be treated to nearly every kind of mayhem, pun and pandemonium imaginable. Herein lies the brilliance of farce: Watching others panic — and knowing it’s not happening to you — is immensely funny and oddly satisfying. If it’s true that laughter is the best medicine, Noises Off just might be the antidote we need most.

Thanks for being here, and I hope you enjoy the show!

From Artistic Director Joseph Haj

Dear Friends,Frankenstein – Playing with Fire

Sept 15 – Oct 27, 2018Wurtele Thrust Stage

Noises OffOct 27 – Dec 16, 2018

McGuire Proscenium Stage

A Christmas CarolNov 13 – Dec 29, 2018Wurtele Thrust Stage

The Great LeapJan 12 – Feb 10, 2019

McGuire Proscenium Stage

As You Like ItFeb 9 – March 17, 2019Wurtele Thrust Stage

Cyrano de Bergerac

March 16 – May 5, 2019McGuire Proscenium Stage

MetamorphosesApril 13 – May 19, 2019Wurtele Thrust Stage

Guys and DollsJune 22 – Aug 25, 2019

Wurtele Thrust Stage

Floyd’sJuly 27 – Aug 25, 2019

McGuire Proscenium Stage

Visit guthrietheater.org for additional productions and

play descriptions.

2018

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SEA

SON

PHOTO: JOSEPH HAJ (KERI PICKETT) 2 \ GUTHRIE THEATER

FREDERICK FELLOWES/

PHILIP/SHEIKH

SELSDON MOWBRAY/BURGLAR

POPPY NORTON-TAYLOR

TIM ALLGOOD

BELINDA BLAIR/FLAVIA

LLOYD DALLAS

BROOKE ASHTON/VICKI

DOTTY OTLEY/MRS. CLACKETT

GARRY LEJEUNE/ROGER

DIRECTOR

SCENIC DESIGNER

COSTUME DESIGNER

LIGHTING DESIGNER

SOUND DESIGNER

SOUND DESIGN RECREATED BY

DRAMATURG

RESIDENT VOICE COACH

MOVEMENT DIRECTOR

FIGHT DIRECTOR

STAGE MANAGER

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

NYC CASTING CONSULTANT

DESIGN ASSISTANTS

Remy Auberjonois*

Raye Birk*

Kimberly Chatterjee*

JuCoby Johnson*

Laura Jordan*

Nathan Keepers*

Kate Loprest*

Sally Wingert*

Johnny Wu*

Meredith McDonough

Kate Sutton-Johnson

Sara Ryung Clement

Paul Toben

Jill BC Du Boff

Paul Estby

Carla Steen

Jill Walmsley Zager

Nathan Keepers

Aaron Preusse

Michele Hossle*

Jason Clusman*

Cara M. Phipps

McCorkle Casting, Ltd.

Polly Bilski (costumes) Emily Schmit (lighting) Kevin Springer (sound)

Noises Offby Michael Frayn

Creative Team

Castin alphabetical order

The Guthrie gratefully recognizes Priscilla Brewster as Producer and Dave & Pat Drew and Susan & Edwin McCarthy as Associate Producers.

SettingACT ONE: The Grand Theatre in Weston-super-Mare on Monday, January 14.

INTERMISSION

ACT TWO: The Theatre Royal in Ashton-under-Lyne on Wednesday, February 13.

ACT THREE: The Municipal Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees on Saturday, April 6.

In all three acts, the action of Nothing On takes place in the living room of the Brents’ country home on a Wednesday afternoon.

Run Time Approximately 2 hours, 30 minutes (including intermission).

Acknowledgments Noises Off is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French.

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THE PLAY

During a dress rehearsal for the bedroom farce Nothing On by Robin Housemonger, director Lloyd Dallas tries to keep his theater troupe on task so the play can open on time and launch its tour through the British provinces. Dotty can’t remember her lines or her props, stage manager Tim attends to doors that won’t open or close, Brooke loses her contacts and Garry loses his cool. Despite countless setbacks and through sheer perseverance, the troupe makes it through the first act mostly unscathed. But there’s no telling what will happen when the tour begins.

A month later, strained nerves and dropped lines are a quaint memory. Actors are nowhere to be found or threaten to quit, and backstage squabbles spill onstage while a whisky bottle and bouquet of flowers keep ending up in the wrong hands. By the end of the tour, all hell has broken loose as the troupe stumbles through a disaster of a performance that makes “the show must go on” a debatable adage.

Synopsis“I haven’t come to the theater to hear about other

people’s problems. I’ve come to be taken out of myself, and, preferably, not put back again.”

– Lloyd Dallas to Tim Allgood in Noises Off

CHARACTERS

Noises Off

Dotty Otley, a seasoned actress

Frederick Fellowes, a fading leading man

Belinda Blair, an actress and resident cast mother

Garry Lejeune, the comic lead

Brooke Ashton, a contact-wearing ingenue

Selsdon Mowbray, a character actor of a certain age

Lloyd Dallas, the director

Poppy Norton-Taylor, the assistant stage manager

Tim Allgood, the stage manager

Nothing On

Mrs. Clackett, the Brents’ housekeeper

Philip Brent, a playwright living in Spain as a tax exile

Flavia Brent, Philip’s wife

Roger Tramplemain, works for the Brents’ house agents

Vicki, an Inland Revenue employee

Burglar, a man who breaks into the Brents’ house

Sheikh, a man looking to rent the Brents’ house

See page 6 for a helpful who’s-who visual.

NOISES OFF BY THE NUMBERS

time on the Guthrie stage

plays in one (Noises Off and Nothing On)

plates of sardines

Linen cupboard: 12 times

Upstairs corridor: 23 times

Service quarters: 27 times

Front door: 49 times

Study: 74 times

Master bedroom: 81 times

Bathrooms: 94 times

mentions of “sardines”

42

228

8doors that open and close during the show

1st

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CREATIVE TEAM

Director Meredith McDonoughMeredith McDonough is the associate artistic director of Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she has directed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America, Circle Mirror Transformation, Peter and the Starcatcher and many others. Previously McDonough was the director of new works at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California. Regionally, favorites include the U.S. premiere of NSFW and Fair Use (Steppenwolf Theatre), Eurydice (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Book Club Play (Dallas Theater Center) and the Washington, D.C., premiere of the musical Summer of ’42.

In New York City, McDonough has developed work with Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Keen Company and Ars Nova. She was formerly the associate artistic director of The Orchard Project and the new works director for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and she currently serves on the board for the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. McDonough received her B.S. from Northwestern University and her M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego.

“ In the short version you had to take in everything, onstage and backstage, before, during and after, simultaneously. Watching it I realized that it would be better to take it one stage at a time, in three acts.”

– Michael Frayn, on turning a 15-minute bit into the three-act Noises Off

“ The brilliance of Noises Off is that it shows you the beginning, middle and end and lets you in on the joke. And it’s not an ill-spirited play. Everyone in the show wants it to succeed — that’s why they’re all trying so hard! The act of making the play is the play, and that’s what makes it so joyful.”

– Meredith McDonough, on why she sees Noises Off as a love letter to theater

Playwright Michael FraynPlaywright, novelist and translator Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933. After two years of National Service, during which he learned Russian, he read Philosophy at Cambridge. He then worked as a reporter and columnist for The Guardian and The Observer, publishing several novels, including The Tin Men (1965), The Russian Interpreter (1966) and Towards the End of the Morning (1967). His plays include Alphabetical Order (1975), Clouds (1976), Donkeys’ Years (1977), Make and Break (1980), Noises Off (1982) and Benefactors (1984). Copenhagen (1998) was first staged at the Royal National Theatre in London and won the 1998 Evening Standard Theatre Award and 2000 Tony Award for Best Play.

A highly accomplished dramatist and author, Frayn has also written documentaries and plays for television and the screenplay for the film Clockwise (1985), starring John Cleese. Frayn is often compared to the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, and he has translated a number of works from Russian, including plays by Chekhov and Tolstoy.

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PLAY FEATURE

Who’s Who and What’s What

Noises Off

Nothing On

Dotty OtleyA seasoned actress with money invested in the tour of Nothing On

Mrs. ClackettPhilip and Flavia’s housekeeper, who has big plans to spend the afternoon watching the telly and eating sardines with her feet up

Frederick FellowesA fading leading man with a touch of innocence and a need to know his characters’ motives

Philip BrentA playwright currently living abroad in Spain as a tax exile

Belinda BlairA cast-mother type who knows everyone’s business and thinks on her feet

Flavia BrentPhilip’s wife, who is excited to celebrate her wedding anniversary in an empty house on Mrs. Clackett’s afternoon off

Garry LejeuneThe comic lead and occasional company spokesperson

Roger TramplemainWorks for the Brents’ house agents and has planned an afternoon tryst with Vicki, knowing it’s Mrs. Clackett’s afternoon off

SheikhHas an appointment with Roger to rent the Brents’ house

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Brooke AshtonA contact-wearing ingenue

VickiAn Inland Revenue employee who plans to take tax evasion files to Basingstoke after her tryst with Roger

Lloyd DallasThe director of Nothing On

Poppy Norton-TaylorThe put-upon assistant stage manager

Tim AllgoodThe sleep-deprived stage manager and understudy

Sardines

In a relationship

Whisky bottle

Flowers

Cactus

Axe

Bath mat

Follow the props

Dropped skirt or trousers

Hot-water bottle

Selsdon MowbrayA character actor of a certain age with a penchant for alcohol

BurglarA man who breaks into the Brents’ house during Mrs. Clackett’s afternoon off

Chart the love connections

PHOTOS: COSTUME SKETCHES BY SARA RYUNG CLEMENT7 \ GUTHRIE THEATER

PLAY FEATURE

The Show Must Go OnAnything can happen during live theater, as the ill-fated troupe performing Nothing On knows all too well. So we asked the cast and crew of Noises Off to share their best (or worst) stories about a time when it all went wrong and how they made it work. We’ve included a teaser story below, and you’ll find the rest of the stories in the program.

JuCOBY JOHNSON Actor, Tim AllgoodIn Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberly, the last line of the first act is a classic “rule of three” laugh line. But the actor who was supposed to walk through the door and deliver the punchline couldn’t open the door. We stood there for what felt like forever, watching the handle jiggle to no effect. The actor eventually improvised something from offstage, and the lights came down. We were all relieved and started making our way offstage. But some of us were supposed to exit through the troublesome door that still wouldn’t open. When the house lights came up, we were all still standing there. We froze, waved sheepishly at the audience and scooted offstage. Much love to my Miss Bennet family — the perfect group to be stuck onstage with!

A Twin Cities holiday traditionA miserly and miserable man, Ebenezer Scrooge greets each Christmas with a “Bah, humbug!” until he is visited one Christmas Eve by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future. Through a restless night, the spirits show him happy memories from his past, cruel realities from the present and a grim future should he continue his cantankerous ways. Charles Dickens’ timeless tale continues to be a perennial favorite and holiday tradition that invites audiences of all ages to celebrate the merriment of the season with their family and loved ones.

Tickets are on sale now at guthrietheater.org.

by CHARLES DICKENSadapted by CRISPIN WHITTELLdirected by LAUREN KEATING

A Christmas CarolNov 13 – Dec 29

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