Noises Off at the Legacy Theatre in Branford

Riotous Laughter.

By: Karen Isaacs - Sep 30, 2025

 

 

 

If you are lucky enough to have tickets for Noises Off at the Legacy Theatre in Branford, prepare yourself for riotous laughter.

This farce by Michael Frayn combines a behind-the-scenes look at a play (Nothing On) as well as the complicated relationships among the cast.

The premise is that a group of actors are setting out on tour with a typical British farce, about an author who is a tax exile, the estate agent (real estate agent) who is trying to rent the house, a young woman who works for Inland Revenue (think IRS), and the housekeeper. Add in the director, multiple romances, and plates upon plates of sardines, and you can see that mayhem will ensue.

Frayn depicts the final rehearsal, which does not go well, and then a performance halfway through the tour (things have deteriorated), and then the last tour stop, where the show is barely comprehensible.

I have always been a fan of this show; I’ve seen multiple productions over the years and enjoyed the movie version as well, which had Carol Burnett as the housekeeper, Michael Caine as the director, and John Ritter and Christopher Reeve as the two leading actors.

Overall, this cast, headed by James Roday Rodriguez as the director of the play within a play and Allison Miller as the actress playing the housekeeper, is very good. But, it is Jimmy Johansmeyer as the actor Gary (he plays the real estate agent) who steals the show.

Director Keely Baisden Knudsen keeps the pace moving, though she has made some inexplicable decisions. Perhaps it made sense to replace the references to the English cities on the tour stops with American cities, but it does not seem necessary. Afterall, the cast is supposed to be British (she didn’t change that).

The most egregious decision was to have Jamie Gray Huder, who plays the actress Brooks Ashton (the sex symbol in the play have an almost incomprehensible French accent. The character in play, Vicki, is also the Inland Revenue Agent, so the French accent is wildly inappropriate. The role already has enough comic elements — she keeps losing her contact lenses and does not appear to be very bright. Adding the accent is too much.

As with most British farces, you can expect multiple double entendres, which is why the show is not recommended for children. You will have the slamming doors expected of most farces and lots of physical comedy – actors are falling downstairs and tripping over things constantly.

Kim Zhou’s set design features seven doors, so that characters are always going in or out of them just missing each other. The set has the look of a low-budget tour, which is part of the play’s premise. In Act Two, the set turns around and we see the backstage chaos.

Frayn plays with the stereotypes about actors and casts. The director, like Zach, the director in A Chorus Line, is often voice from the back of the theater; the actor Frederick Fellowes (played well by Michael Trotter) holds up the final rehearsal asking questions about why he carries a box office stage — what is his motivation? Gary is completely inarticulate.

Allison Miller plays Dotty who plays the housekeeper. Dotty is supposedly an older actress who is financing the tour to make some money. Even with a wig streaked with gray, Miller doesn’t quite carry it off. Melanie Martyn plays the actress Belinda, who is the “mother” of the cast – always explaining to Lloyd the personal intrigues and struggles among the cast.

We even have the aging actor Selsdon, played well by Kurt Fuller, who is hard of hearing and drinks.

The two back-stage crew members don’t escape the stereotypes. As the stage manager, Emily Gardt is frantic and as Tim, Mariah Sage is the typical overworked crew member who has gotten no sleep.

If the cast and crew aren’t searching for Brooks’ contact lenses, they are trying to find Selsdon (who falls asleep) or keep him away from alcohol.

Director Baisden Knudson and the cast have gotten so many laughs out of acts one and two, that by the time we come to the final tour stop, the audience seems all laughed out.

You might check with the box office, in case of cancellation.

Noises Off runs through Sunday, Oct. 12.

This content is courtesy of Shore Publications and Zip06.com