Steadstyle Chicago
	January 2010 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
	Noises Off Theatre is a microcosm of life itself.  We all have our entrances and exits, our cues and blocking, our characters and our props.  In Michael Frayn's great farce within a farce "Noises Off," an exasperated director explains to his cast that the secret of life is doors and sardines, getting on and getting off.  Hit your mark, deliver your line and don't slip on the sardines!  If you've ever wanted to poke around behind the scenes of a theatrical production, this is your chance.  Those of us who are intimately acquainted with all the inner workings of the theatre, the doors that don't open, the props that don't work, the lines missed, the lighting and sound cues that fail to come in at the right time will have the biggest laughs.  But I'm sure even the theatrical novice will have a hearty chuckle or two, especially given the hilariously polished and perfectly paced delivery at Wheaton Drama.  I know my facial muscles actually hurt from laughing. This is the first of two opportunities audiences in the Chicagoland suburbs have to savor playwright Frayn's delicious look behind the scenes at a play in chaos.  It is not only the best production I have experienced at Wheaton Drama, it is on a level with the very best professional Equity productions I have seen of this play.  Community theatres often get a bum rap and sometimes it's deserved.  The movie "Waiting for Guffman" hysterically and memorably skewers a troupe of inept amateurs staging a small town musical epic.  That couldn't be further from the fact here.  Having staged "Noises Off" previously at the Wheaton theatre in 1999, Director James Liesz and his cast, five of the original nine reunited, are on familiar terrain.  But the intervening decade has only ripened and tightened this company of comedic geniuses.  I do not use that term lightly either, but after watching this breathless display of farcical merriment performed to its dazzling roller coaster best, I am a born-again believer in the potential of so-called "community theatre". Frayn ingeniously takes us through the final dress rehearsal (they never had time for a proper "technical" apparently) through the actual performance in progress and finally towards the end of the run of a troubled British touring company presenting a typical British farce called "Nothing On".  The play zigzags from onstage to backstage, and here Director Liesz and his cast and crew score something of a coup de théâtre.  You may never have witnessed a funnier set change in your life!  Don't run for the restroom, folks.  Kent Kupcho's substantial set is broken down and rearranged by the company in full view, making a full rotation from "onstage" to "backstage," with appropriate and wittily timed ad lib's from the cast shifters.  This is physical comedy at its zaniest, and by the third act we witness the pratfalls of live theatre run amok. I need to take the opportunity to single out every one of the Wheaton cast members for their carefully practiced and thoroughly delightful work.  Annie Walker Bright is a treasure as the appropriately named Dotty Otley, leading lady and partial investor in the production.  Ms. Walker Bright is an adorable grandmotherly type whose face sparkles with the buoyancy that shows she is loving every moment she has in the limelight.  She is a joy to watch and would be a jewel on any stage.  Geoffrey Maher embodies the authoritarian director much like the captain of a sinking ship.  Christopher Williams is hilariously clueless as the hapless leading man who never finishes complete...you know what I mean?  Leah Rae is absolutely scrumptious as the blonde soubrette with all the right curves and a missing contact lens. Douglas Orlyk is all wounded insecurity and neurosis as the actor Frederick Fellowes, questioning his motivation while everything around him seems to be falling to pieces, and Susan Carr radiates warmth and compassion as the company's good natured gossip maven Belinda Blair.  Dennis Brown is the delightful old and forgettable lush Selsdon Mowbray, and Elizabeth Owsley and Patrick Naugle do yeomen work as the indispensable company stage managers.  Good stage managers are usually invisible to the audience and often taken for granted, but trust me when I say they deserve every bit of the accolades for the show's success as anyone.  It is rare to find any company so thoroughly enjoying their romp through theatrical madness.  I feel as if I have lost a pound or two just watching these amazing physical comedians.  There is no question that the cast of "Noises Off" is right on target. "Noises Off" plays at Wheaton Drama's Playhouse 111, located at 111 North Hale Street in Wheaton, IL.  The play runs 2 hours 30 minutes in three acts with two intermissions.  Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm.  Tickets are $16 each, except Thursdays, which have a special price of $13 each.  Remaining shows in Wheaton Drama's 2009-2010 season include "To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday" and "Chicago".  Call (630) 260-1820 or www.wheatondrama.org for further information.   About Joe Stead Joe Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for the past twenty-five years.  He served as founder, producer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida.  Favorite productions have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap," "The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Godspell".  He has also performed leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin," "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for Waukegan Community Players.  Joe holds a degree in Commercial Art from Tampa Technical Institute.  As a critic, he has reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.  Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America.  He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers.  He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene.  Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays.  His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).