• by Michael Frayn
• directed by Linda Duarte

Called the funniest farce ever written, Noises Off presents a manic menagerie as a cast of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing’s On. Doors slamming, on and offstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious and classically comic play.

The New York Times called Noises Off “…the most dexterously realized comedy ever about putting on a comedy. A spectacularly funny, peerless backstage farce. … a festival of delirium.”

Each of the three acts of Noises Off contains a performance of the first act of a play within a play, a poor farce called Nothing On — the type of play in which young girls run about in their underwear, old men drop their trousers, and many doors continually bang open and shut. Preparing for the opening performance, the cast are hopelessly unready, and baffled by entrances and exits, missed cues, missed lines, and bothersome props, including several plates of sardines.

In Act Two, the play is seen from backstage, providing a view that emphasises the deteriorating relationships between the cast that lead to offstage shenanigans and onstage bedlam. The play falls into disorder before the curtain falls.

By Act Three, though the actors remain determined at all costs to cover up the mounting series of mishaps, it is not long before the plot has to be abandoned entirely and the more coherent characters are obliged to take a lead in ad-libbing somehow towards some sort of end.

Production Dates:

• Friday and Saturday, June 16th and 17th, 7:30 pm
• Sunday June 18th, 2:00 pm matinee
• Friday and Saturday, June 23rd and 24th, 7:30 pm
• Sunday. June 25th, 2:00 pm matinee

The Chalk Garden

• by Enid Bagnold
• Directed by Laura Graham

Family drama and wit meet in this exploration of the secret world of childhood through the prism of a dyed-in-the-wool dowager, her precocious and equally eccentric granddaughter, and the enigmatic new governess.

Mrs. St. Maugham lives in her country house in a village in Sussex, where the garden is composed of lime and chalk. She is taking care of her teenage grandchild, Laurel, who has been setting fires. Miss Madrigal, an expert gardener, is hired as a governess, despite her lack of references. Also in the household is a valet, Maitland, who has just been released from a five-year sentence in prison. Olivia, Laurel’s mother, who has remarried, arrives for a visit. When the Judge comes to the house for lunch, he reveals that he had sentenced Miss Madrigal to jail for murder.

When The Chalk Garden was revived in London in 2008, critics called it a “neglected stage masterpiece” and praised Bagnold’s writing as “extravagantly eloquent”, “irresistibly vivid” and “hauntingly beautiful”. Bagnold is also the author of the much-loved novel National Velvet.

Production Dates:

• Friday and Saturday, March 3rd and 4th, 7:30 pm
• Sunday March 5th, 2:00 pm matinee
• Friday and Saturday,March 10th and 11th, 7:30 pm
• Sunday. March 12th, 2:00 pm matinee