Antaeus Workshops

NOISES OFF 2009/2010 Capital Critics Circle Nominated

Written by Michael Frayn

Directed by John P Kelly

Produced by Gladstone Productions at the Gladstone Theatre Sept 3 - Oct 10 2010

Lighting by David Magladry

Costumes by Peggy Laverty

Starring Al Connors , John Koensgen, Michelle Leblanc, Margo Macdonald, Patrick MacFadden, Steve Martin, Chris Ralph, Colleen Sutton, Jennifer Vallance

Built by Antaeus Workshops Architectural

Noises Off - A three act British farce featuring the performance of the play with a play "Nothing On". Each act contains a performance of the first act of "Nothing On";

Act 1 is the dress rehearsal of Nothing On

Act 2 takes place behind the scenes of the set

Act 3 Is the final performance after touring the play

The primary challenge in designing this set is how to show both the front and the back of the “Nothing On” set which calls for a 2 storey house (Posset Mill converted to a residence) with doors in very specific locations. Specific to this production was the limited backstage space; the theatre stage at the Gladstone Theatre is 48 feet wide and 24 feet deep if all the curtains and legs are removed. The usable stage is only 18 feet deep (front of apron to rear traveller) 36 feet wide, and 16 feet tall to the bottom of the lights. John Kelly, the director, wanted the full width of the space usable for the actors to literally run in. This frames the problem of how to reverse a set that is 36 feet wide in 24 feet of space and how to shrink what should be 18 feet tall to under 15 feet (a storey in a house in normally nine feet tall with structure)

The second challenge in designing Noises Off is also due to this rotation. Commonly the set for this play is a flat wall two storey wall with the required doors and staircase. This allows both the front stage and backstage side of the set to have good, if plain, sightlines. If a set deviates from this straight plane, upon reversing the set (for the second act) areas which are closer to the audience become farther from the audience and areas which were farther from the audience become closer, which in turn creates awkward sightlines for people at the edges of the seating. This set design compromised between a flat set and a more common “V” style by creating a series of undulations. These slight back and forth modulations allowed for some relief in the set, they strengthened the walls structurally, and helped to create spaces for actors to inhabit.

Because the set is still essentially a flat line crossing the stage in plan (each of the undulations returns to approximately the same plane), the third challenge was how to give the appearance of greater depth in what was approximately 4 feet of actual depth. This 4 feet was determined by the turning circle of the main portion of the set – 4 feet of front stage area (Act 1 and 3) and 4 feet of back stage area (Act 2). The false perspective was optimized for the front stage area, and was limited in the back stage area so one could reveal a little more of the back stage magic. Each door on set was a slightly different size – the ones closest to the audience are wider and taller, the ones farthest back are narrower and shorter. (Look for the Stage Right door on the second level - and note the height of the door knob) Specifically look at the top view of the stairs to see the distortion required to make “things look right”.