Funny ‘Noises’ New Surry Theatre to stage hilarious hit filled with emotions

The rehearsal for “Noises Off” is a case of life imitating art imitating art. In Michael Frayn’s raucous play-within-a-play, tensions mount backstage as the cast’s production of the British farce “Nothing On” unravels onstage.

As the cast runs through Act II for the New Surry Theatre’s production, it feels like deja vu all over again.

Something is not working, Ben Layman points out, and he’s not the only person who feels this way.

It’s hot in the Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth, and with only four days left before opening night on Thursday, tempers are heating up, too.

“There is kind of a tension, an attitude here, that hasn’t been here since the first week,” the play’s director, Bill Raiten, tells the group onstage.

Eyes roll. Heads shake. Sighs escape.

“Let’s try to make it real,” Raiten says. “You have to make the audience believe that you really are doing these things. We’re not just going through the actions, we’re going through the emotions.”

Clearly.

When the New Surry Theatre takes the stage at 7 tonight for a one-weekend-only run of “Noises Off,” audiences can expect real emotions at The Grand. But unlike their characters in “Nothing On,” these actors won’t crack under pressure. And if last Sunday’s rehearsal was any indication, the show will go off without a hitch.

It’s a huge undertaking, however. “Noises Off” is a big production, so big that Raiten didn’t want to do it when his wife, costume designer Elena Bourakovsky, suggested it as a follow-up to last spring’s “Lost in Yonkers.”

“She thought it was so funny,” Raiten said. “She read the script and said, ‘If we do this, we’ll get more and more people coming.’ I said no, because it’s just too big.”

The hilarious script, which takes its name from theater-speak for offstage sound effects, wasn’t a question. The University of Maine staged “Noises Off” last winter, and the Penobscot Theatre Company staged it in 1994. Both were wildly popular. But the two-sided set – which sits on a turntable, has eight doors, two levels and about as many stairs as the Empire State Building – was simply enormous.

Enter Raiten’s friend Gerry Newman, a scenic designer who had just told the theater he works for in New York that he wouldn’t do “Noises Off” because the set was too big. The dimensions at the Grand were a bit more workable, however, so he came to Maine to help Raiten pull it off.

Then Raiten assembled a cast of actors, including Cindy Robbins, Dennis Harrington and Amy Spaulding, who all have taken acting lessons from Raiten; Monique Gibouleau and Ben Layman, who have appeared in many local productions; Alec Aman, whom Raiten has known since he was a young boy; Raiten’s accountant, Bruce Reddy; and newcomers Jenny Bragdon and Dwayne Kent.

“That made a wonderful cast,” Raiten said.

The script is demanding, requiring actors to learn two roles with precise timing. It also is intensely physical, so much so that one of the actors has lost 30 pounds since he started rehearsing. And Bourakovsky has had to refit all of the costumes because everyone has lost weight from running up and down all those stairs.

“I have never gotten a play that is this wild and fun and exhausting for the actors,” Raiten said. “I’m having lots of fun working with actors who are trying so hard and achieving so much.”

If real life is anything like the script, it’s likely that the actors, too, will end up having lots of fun in the end. But it’s “Noises Off,” after all, which means anything that can go wrong probably will along the way.

“Noises Off” will be staged at 7 tonight, Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday at The Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth. Tickets are available at the box office or by calling 667-9500. The play includes mature themes and language that may not be suitable for children.