Theatre VCU Presents “Noises Off,” First Show of 2012-13 Season

By Cassie Williams Jones

The Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Theatre in the School of the Arts opens its first show of the season this weekend.

“Noises Off” will open for students on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m., and run Sept. 28-29 and Oct. 4-6 at 7:30 p.m., and on Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 at 3 p.m., at VCU’s W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Ave.

Written by Michael Frayn and directed by Anita Maynard-Losh, “Noises Off” has been called “the funniest farce ever written.” A feverishly paced hilarious door-slamming comedy, this “play within a play” follows an acting company’s struggles to prepare and perform a British sex comedy called “Nothing On.”

Everything that can go wrong does, as actors desperately try to hang on to their lines, their performances and the furniture, especially a hysterically slippery plate of sardines. The stage is a giant turntable and was entirely designed and built by VCU Theatre students.

“Noises Off” has earned Tony Award nominations for Best Play and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble.

Tickets are $10 for VCU students with a valid ID, $15 for other students with a valid ID, $20 for seniors and VCU faculty and staff and $25 for general admission, and can be purchased at the Theatre VCU Box Office, (804) 828-6026, theatretix@vcu.edu or vcutheatre.showclix.com.

For more information, visit http://www.vcu.edu/arts/theatre/dept/.

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