Noises Off
MainStage Irving Las Colinas, Irving, Texas
2025
2025
Reviews
“Scenic Designer Joseph Cummings and Master Carpenter Ellie Wyatt have pulled off a triumph with the huge, rotating, two-sided set that takes full advantage of the deep stage.”
Dallas Theatre Journal
Synopsis
Noises Off by Michael Frayn is a fast-paced, farcical comedy about the disastrous behind-the-scenes shenanigans of a touring theater company attempting to stage a fictional play called Nothing On. The show is structured in three acts, each revealing a different perspective on the same play’s performance.
In Act One, the audience watches the final dress rehearsal of Nothing On, where forgotten lines, misplaced props, and personal tensions hint at deeper chaos brewing among the cast and crew. In Act Two, the set is rotated so the audience sees the backstage view during a mid-run performance. Silent but frantic, this act is a ballet of slamming doors, dropped cues, and simmering rivalries, as romantic entanglements and personal feuds erupt while the actors struggle to keep the play on track. By Act Three, the fictional production has completely unraveled—props go missing, dialogue is scrambled, and actors improvise wildly, leading to a hilariously catastrophic finale.
Equal parts love letter to live theater and razor-sharp satire, Noises Off delights in showing how the drama behind the curtain can be even more absurd than what’s on stage.
In Act One, the audience watches the final dress rehearsal of Nothing On, where forgotten lines, misplaced props, and personal tensions hint at deeper chaos brewing among the cast and crew. In Act Two, the set is rotated so the audience sees the backstage view during a mid-run performance. Silent but frantic, this act is a ballet of slamming doors, dropped cues, and simmering rivalries, as romantic entanglements and personal feuds erupt while the actors struggle to keep the play on track. By Act Three, the fictional production has completely unraveled—props go missing, dialogue is scrambled, and actors improvise wildly, leading to a hilariously catastrophic finale.
Equal parts love letter to live theater and razor-sharp satire, Noises Off delights in showing how the drama behind the curtain can be even more absurd than what’s on stage.
