Festival Preview: Noises Off

TROUPE 3796’S PRODUCTION

McPherson High School Troupe Director Greg McGlynn doesn’t just like Noises Off. His latest incarnation marks the seventh time he has directed or appeared in the show. “I was fortunate to be sitting in the Savoy Theatre in London as the curtain rose on a play called Noises Off in its premiere season. We arrived right before curtain and were not quite sure what we were in store for. When we figured out the plot, we began laughing ourselves silly. Well, it’s 31 years later, and I’m still laughing at this play.”

McGlynn returns to the script every four or five years, giving each generation of students cycling through his theatre program the chance to experience its onstage zaniness. “I love the physical challenge the roles bring to actors. I also love the technical challenge the set and props bring to my crews. In my 37 years being involved with theatre arts, I cannot think of a more enjoyable and challenging show.”

Those challenges include the show’s play-within-a-play structure, precision comic timing, and intricately choreographed blocking. To navigate them, McGlynn extended the rehearsal period for Noises Off, casting the show at the end of the previous school year and building rehearsal time into his fall Repertory Advance Acting class so that students could dive deeper into the style, study commedia dell’arte and stock characters, and explore multiple British dialects needed to differentiate their dual characters. The Stage Craft class began framing the two-story set in August, giving the actors more time to work with its multiple doors and windows leading up to the show’s November opening.

Thespian senior Drake Langshaw, who plays Garry and Roger, says he and his fellow actors have experience performing comedy, but the nuances of farce were a welcome challenge. “With the fast-paced, ‘one person goes off while another comes on’ thing going on the whole time, it requires a great deal of focus and chemistry with your castmates to feel that same timing every time,” Langshaw said. “This cast is my home away from home and a group of people I’ve known since middle school. I love them like my own siblings and owe them the world. Without their reactions, my falling on my face would only be half as funny.”

“I have never played a character quite like Brooke before, so it was fun and challenging to learn how to act so hopelessly dumb and develop the gestures she would use,” said Meghan Smith, also a Thespian senior. “Learning the blocking and overall timing in Act 2 — between what is seen onstage and the lines said backstage — was extremely challenging, but the end result was definitely worth it.”

All three are elated to have the opportunity to present the show again. “The most exciting thing to me about getting to perform Noises Off at the International Thespian Festival is that I will get to perform another time with my theatre family,” Smith said. “I am also thrilled to get the honor of performing at such a high level, in front of people who truly appreciate theatre.”

Langshaw agreed, “My school is well known as a sports school, with a community that wholly backs every sporting event. But beyond the fields and courts, we have a thriving fine arts department that does so many lovely things. I think this opportunity is huge to show our community that we can achieve accolades too.”

For his part, McGlynn describes the invitation to ITF as “one of the most exciting moments of my educational career. Back in August, I told my students this would probably be my seventh and final time to do Noises Off, as I near retirement. But now I’m saying, this is my 7.5 and last time to do Noises Off. Maybe. After all, I’ve never played Selsdon!”