![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/HQMMPVPYPBBXXPTSAMHXYUQ7YI.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNever has a plate of sardines wreaked so much havoc. It\u2019s just one of the props doing yeoman\u2019s work alongside a delightfully engaged cast literally throwing themselves into Noises Off to open the Dallas Theater Center season.<\/p>\n
While the first and third acts are hilarious, it\u2019s the middle section of British playwright Michael Frayn\u2019s backstage farce that makes it a classic. With the set rotated so the audience can see what\u2019s going on behind the scenes during a beleaguered performance of the play-within-the-play Nothing\u2019s On, Noises Off turns into an almost silent comedy of miscommunication and pratfalls.<\/p>\n
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Alex Organ’s director character in Dallas Theater Center’s production of “Noises Off” has to repeatedly send for flowers.<\/p>\n
Jordan Fraker<\/p>\n
The antics are fueled by romantic entanglements among cast and crew members of Nothing\u2019s On and its shoddy production. On opening night Tuesday at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the crowd was filled with show people knowingly guffawing. Hopefully, the outsized troubles depicted didn\u2019t look too familiar.<\/p>\n
News Roundups<\/p>\n
By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Nothing\u2019s On is set in a two-story house owned by a couple (Esteban Vilchez and Tiffany Solano among a cast of mostly DTC company members) who have moved to another country to avoid paying taxes. The presence of several doors hints that Noises Off will become a comedy of muffed entrances and exits, among other physical hijinks.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n The brilliant second act, which takes place while the show is on tour, is set up by this earlier tech rehearsal in which the farce-within-the-farce starts to go wrong.<\/p>\n Liz Mikel plays the actor playing the sardine-wielding maid in Dallas Theater Center’s production of “Noises Off.”<\/p>\n Jordan Fraker<\/p>\n We first see the actor portraying the maid (Liz Mikel) wielding a plate of sardines and soon learn that the production is behind schedule hours before it\u2019s supposed to open. The director (Alex Organ) is initially heard as an offstage voice-of-God before he\u2019s spotted in the balcony and then rushes onstage as panic begins to grow with the arrival of the rest of the cast.<\/p>\n The beauty of Noises Off is that things can always get worse. By the third act, with Nothing\u2019s On about to end its tour, the show is in shambles. Still, it can\u2019t top the build-up of the second act, when all sorts of business stemming from the internecine affairs plays out backstage.<\/p>\n The director is particularly egregious, repeatedly having to send out the stage manager (Cristian Torres) to buy flowers for one of his intendeds when they keep winding up in the wrong hands. To avoid being seen by the fictional audience behind the turned around set, the actors have to cross the backstage floor on their hands and knees using increasingly comic techniques.<\/p>\n Jealousies spark mock violence worthy of the Three Stooges. Because there\u2019s virtually no dialogue as the physical comedy grows more and more absurd, Noises Off becomes a pure comedy of pantomimed flubs and foul-ups. There\u2019s not a more fun show on stage in Dallas.<\/p>\n Details<\/b><\/p>\n![\"Quintin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760092213_504_RLY533SUB5E7DDBYKF2DBKT5YM.jpg\")
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