Dec. 13, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — “Noises Off” is back at Pioneer Theater after about 20 years, and fans familiar with the 1982 Michael Frayn farce will be happy to know it is still just as silly and sardine-fueled as ever.
It’s a play within a play, with characters misplacing parts of their clothing, their oil-packed fish snacks and their important documents as multiple sets of people seem to enter the country house for their own reasons, at least temporarily unaware of others on the premises.
Split-second timing is vital, as is sequenced door slamming. But are the fictional actors up to it? And the real actors, playing the fictional characters trying to stage “Nothing On” while so much goes wrong and there are so many crashing sounds “Noises Off”?
If you have seen this farce, you probable remember that it starts with a technical rehearsal for “Nothing On,” which features a female who misplaces her dress after she is invited to a country house by a rental agent who believes it is empty.
Olivia Kaufmann, Robert Mammana and Avneet Kaur Sandhu. Photo: BW Productions
But the maid still lives on site, and really wants to read her newspaper and snack on the elusive plate of sardines she has prepared.
The “Nothing On” director becomes more frantic as actors can’t remember their lines, hit their cues, or find their props. Some even want to talk about their characters’ motivations mere hours before opening.
Photo: BW Productions
Act 2 depicts the first act of a matinee performance about a month later, with the set rotated to reveal the chaos happening backstage as actors’ personal relationships and theatrical disciplines have suffered a serious decline.
How could things possibly get worse in Act 3, when Act 1 is viewed from the front of the stage again? Oh, in so many entertaining ways.
By now, several of the actors — some of them armed with props — are really starting to hate each other. Other company members are making extra efforts to cover for peers in order to salvage the story being presented to audience members.
Sarah Marie Joyce, Olivia Kaufmann, Linda Mugleston and Terence Archie. Photo: BW Productions
Linda Mugleston, playing actress Dotty Otley, who is playing character Mrs. Clackett, is lots of fun as the actress backing the production in hopes of making some retirement money. Mugleston brings just the right level of distraction and frustration to the role.
Lloyd Dallas, playing “Nothing On” character Robert Mammana, perfectly embodies the exasperated, goal-driven director, bouncing between scolding and coddling his undisciplined cast, and running out of time.
Rhett Guter is great as Garry LeJeune, the rental agent frustrated by his inability to get the partially undressed Brook (actress Olivia Kaufmann) alone into a room with some privacy.
Then there’s the subplot about overdue taxes, well acted by Terence Archie and Sarah Marie Joyce, and Davis Manis as an actor, viewed by castmates as unreliable, who is playing a burglar who needs to hit a very specific cue with his entrance.
Kilty Reidy and Avneet Kaur Sandhu round out the cast as off stage crew members who will go to great lengths, on stage, in an effort to keep the story on track, with limited success.
Kilty Reidy, Linda Mugleston, Robert Mammana and David Manis. Photo: BW Productions
The set, by designer Paige Hathaway, is appropriately polished or ragged, depending on the view. Costumes by Mariko Ohigashi, with wigs, hair, and makeup designed by Kate Casalino, help visually define the characters. Director Shelley Butler brings the whole thing together.
As a fan of the play, my only wish is that the descent into madness was just a tad slower, for greater contrast between the second and third acts. But then, how reasonable would it be to ask that the fun comes slower in a farce when the whole goal is increasing chaos?
The production continues through Dec. 20, with shows at 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Fridays, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, at Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City. Student tickets are half price on Monday. For tickets, click this link.
