The cast of Noises Off (Photo by director Christian Fleming)

Noises Off? They certainly aren’t talking about by upstairs neighbors! (Seriously, people – when its 1am on a school night, it’s time for the noises to be off.)

Starting tonight (February 15), the Narrows Community Theater will put on a 1982 play by British playwright Michael Frayn. A play-within-a-play, Frayn credited a production of one of his earlier plays as the inspiration – “it was funnier from behind than in front and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind.”

As the NCT describes it:

Called the funniest farce ever written, Noises Off presents a manic menagerie as a cast of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called Nothing’s On. Doors slamming, on and backstage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this hilarious and classically comic play. Noises Off is a play within a play. It is about an ambitious director and his troupe of mediocre actors. The cast and crew are putting together a silly sex comedy titled, Nothing On – a single-set farce in which lovers frollic, doors slam, clothes are tossed away, and embarrassing hi-jinks ensue…

If you have never experienced theater as an actor or a crew member, then perhaps Noises Off is simply an entertaining show with a lot of laughs. However, for those of us who “tread the boards,” Michael Frayn’s Noises Off might very well be the funniest play ever written.

Noises Off opens tonight at 8pm at St. Patrick’s Auditorium (9511 4th Ave). It plays five more dates (this Saturday Feb 16 / Sunday Feb 17, next Friday Feb 22 / Saturday Feb 23 / Sunday Feb 24), with the Friday and Saturday showtimes starting at 8pm, and the Sunday matinees begining at 2pm.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and $12 for seniors, children, and students under 21.