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Plays International

Basil Abbott

Michael Frayn's farce within a farce springs from theatrical experience.

In those casting directory photos, actors always look so capable and confident. Given the uncertainties and pitfalls of the profession, you can only admire their pluck. Fame and fortune must seem about as unlikely as opening on Tuesday next and not making a hash of some unactable farrago.

It is this world of ghastly rep that the play inhabits.

The characters are all there - the harassed little ASM (Victoria Yeates),  the eloquently sardonic, theatre-weary director (Jamie Newall), the bimbo in her underwear (Saskia Butler), the dotty housekeeper (Rosemary Ashe), the decrepit old pro (Col Farrell).

Trousers drop, mayhem and anarchy reign as the farce goes wildly off the rails both on and off stage.

There have been several fine plays about theatre, including A Chorus of Disapproval and Our Country's Good. But Noises Off, directed by Peter Rowe, is the funniest.

See it at the New Wolsey Theatre until 13 March.