‘Noises Off’ a fitting sendoff for Torres Classic farce well-played by Penobscot Theatre

Mark Torres’ parting theatrical gift after more than a decade at the helm of the Penobscot Theatre Company is a tried and true play about theater life that last week threw the audience into fits of opening night laughter. Torres cast “Noises Off” with a mix of well-known local players and out-of-town professionals – a formula that has garnered community support, if not always good notices.

Michael Frayn’s play about an English touring company has become a classic farce performed hundreds of times a year. The company did it in 1994 and the University of Maine theater department launched productions in 1990 and 2001.

“Noises Off” is a play within a play about a production afflicted by Murphy’s Law along with every theatrical curse and superstition. Even theatergoers who suffered through only one or two productions years ago in high school will recognize the backstage romances and bruised egos awash in Frayn’s skewed but loving look at the theatrical life.

The set, designed by Nayna Ramey, is an obstacle course of doors, windows and staircases that actors must race up and down in a marathon that lasts three acts. For this play, Torres is not just a director, he’s a choreographer, especially in the second act that is seen from backstage and has little dialogue. He has done both jobs exceedingly well.

One of Torres’ great skills as a director has been his knack for casting. For nearly every part in “Noises Off,” he has perfectly matched the actor to the role. Because he has worked previously with all but two of the performers in this production, Torres may have matched offstage personality traits to the playwright’s onstage personas.

Adam Kuykendall, as Garry Lejeune, is the energetic engine that pulls the play out of the station and sets it on its comedic tracks. He is equally adept at physical comedy and milking every last laugh from every line. The actor creates a pompous, undertalented, overrated actor who is so disarmingly charming that the audience loves him even when it knows Lejeune doesn’t deserve it. Kuykendall does.

He is matched by Robert Libbey, who portrays director Lloyd Dallas. A veteran of many local productions, including the company’s previous production of “Noises Off,” he seems to have woven a thread of every director he’s ever worked with into the hair shirt Dallas wears as he tries to balance actors’ egos, technical glitches and his own backstage imbroglios. Libbey is best when the director’s patience is pushed past its limit and the actor slings sarcasm like a deadly, accurate archer. He never misses the comedic mark.

A.J. Mooney is disappointing as Dotty Otley, the fading star who “has money in the show.” The actor projects none of the withered-flower qualities the role requires, so, when other characters cater to her whims, she seems totally undeserving. Her name is as deep a Dotty gets, but she was a somebody once and in failing to capture her lost sparkle, Mooney misjudges the character and misses a lot of laughs.

Brewer High School senior Khalan Bridges, as the sleep-deprived stagehand and understudy, gives a performance equal to his more experienced castmates. Bridges’ timing is impeccable and he brings a sweet, dogged devotion to the role of the invaluable but unsung theater “techie.”

Kelly Tuohy, Jenny Bragdon, Mark S. Cartier, Kae Cooney and John Greenman round out the cast and make “Noises Off” a fitting sendoff for Torres’ tenure in Bangor.

“Noises Off” will be performed through May 1. For information, call 942-3333. Judy Harrison can be reached at 990-8207 and jharrison@bangordailynews.net.