The making of Noises Off

COLLEGE Players assure seasonal bliss with their premier of Michael Frayn’s ‘Noises Off’ next Tuesday 10 at Lime Tree Theatre. There’s a cast of nine professionals and semi-pros, at least five of them doubling up in role play, complicated by a split stage of rotating wonder.

We view the play-within-a-play device in all its glory and lack of, parallel with behind the scenes havoc, its drinking, affairs and visceral hate.

Dave Griffin is a first time director for Frayn’s event. Without apology, he has cast first-timer Rachel Griffin, his daughter, in with the experienced Liam O’Brien, Rebecca Murphy, Sadhbh McCoy, Chris Rowley, Padhraic Hastings and Brendan McNamara, with (slightly) younger faces on the block, Miriam Ball and Dan Mooney. Dan is fresh from directing comedy for Torch and is part of a new intake for College.

“I’ve been in the last five College Players shows,” explained Mr Griffin to Arts page about being seated in the director’s chair. “The committee sort of got together and did a little arm-twisting”.

He is better known as a singer/ actor of three decades standing in Midwest theatre groups, and took home the AIMS 2014 Best Actor for ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ with Limerick Musical Society.

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Hard-working rehearsals and experienced stage management drive momentum for this immersive fun and skulduggery. Frayn is an outstanding British playwright and novelist; we glimpsed his work first here in 2014 when Bottom Dog Theatre Company staged a rehearsed reading of his ‘Democracy’ that served the text and Limerick audience well.

‘Noises Off’ at Lime Tree Theatre, November 10 to 14 at 8pm.