‘Noises Off’ to kick off season at Syracuse Stage

Robert Hupp had a specific plan in mind last year when selecting Syracuse Stage’s 2018-19 lineup.

“I felt like with everything going on in the world, it was time for people to come and forget about things and have fun in the theatre,” said Hupp, who is entering his third season as the artistic director of Syracuse Stage.

The theater will kick off the 2018-19 season on Sept. 12 with a production of British playwright Michael Frayn’s farce “Noises Off,” directed by Hupp. The play recounts the story of a theater company’s ill-produced adaptation of a fictional British sex farce.

“You have this interestingly constructed play performed by actors who have their own foibles,” Hupp said. “The play just kind of disintegrates, and that’s where I think the real comedy is.”

This will be Syracuse Stage’s first time producing “Noises Off,” which debuted in London in 1982 and opened on Broadway shortly after in 1983. The show has since returned to Broadway twice, most recently in a 2015 revival.

In the decades since its debut, “Noises Off” has become a favorite of both actors and directors alike due to the show’s fast-paced style of physical comedy.

“If you ask anybody who’s an actor what is the greatest physical comedy show ever written, ‘Noises Off’ nine times out of 1o would top that list,” said Seth Andrew Bridges, who plays Garry Lejeune, one of the lead actors in the fictional production.

This will be Bridges’s third production at Syracuse Stage, having previously appeared in “The Three Musketeers” and “Great Expectations.” Bridges is also a New York-based television stuntman and has appeared in “Gotham” and “The Blacklist,” among others.

Kate Hamill plays the role of Poppy Norton-Taylor, the fictional production assistant stage manager. Hamill is also an accomplished playwright, and her adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” will run at Syracuse Stage in the spring.

For Bridges and Hamill, working on “Noises Off” was an opportunity they couldn’t turn down.

“‘Noises Off’ is a love letter to theatre,” Hamill said. “As someone who loves the theatre, it’s a dream come true.”

For Hamill, regional theater is a lot more immersive than working in New York City because she can spend more time with the cast outside of rehearsal. Bridges said that performing in Syracuse has allowed him to develop close bonds with his castmates.

“Your only network of friends up here are the people that you’re working with,” Bridges added.

Hupp explained that this is one of the strengths of regional theater.

“It’s in regional theatre where new plays are developed, (and) it’s in regional theatre where the literature of our art form is created in America,” Hupp said. “Regional theatre is where the art form is nurtured.”

“Noises Off” presented Hupp with an unusual rehearsal process. Shows are not usually rehearsed on their sets until the week before opening, Hupp said. In this case, actors were able to utilize the set from the beginning of the rehearsal process a month ago.

“This play exercises a different muscle,” Hupp said. “The play is a challenge to create and a delight to produce.”

Part of the challenge of the show is the set itself, designed by West Coast-based scenic designer John Iacovelli. Iacovelli’s 12th production of “Noises Off,” the set consists of two levels and ten separate entrances. Complex sets are paramount to farces, Hupp said.

“Noises Off” will open to preview audiences on Sept. 12, and to the general public on Sept. 14 at the Syracuse Stage/SU Drama Complex. Syracuse University students can purchase discounted tickets at the Schine Box Office.

“There’s no hidden agenda with the play,” Hupp said. “It’s just a hysterically funny night out.”