Noises Off at Chichester Festival Theatre: REVIEW - Fawlty Towers meets The Play That Goes Wrong

The opening music is reminiscent of the theme tune of the classic TV comedy Fawlty Towers. Before a single word is spoken, the sub-conscious is already yearning some of the John Cleese style of slap-stick manic humour rooted in superb characterisation.

The audience is not to be disappointed.

This is not set in a Torquay hotel but in a small-town theatre where a touring production of ‘Nothing On’ is being rehearsed.

What ensues has parallels with The Play That Goes Wrong as the cast lunge from one on-stage and off-stage disaster to the next.

It’s fast. It’s furious. And it is riotous fun from start to finish.

No-one is going to nod off quietly in the stalls to this 100 mile a minute script. Formula 1 looks positively slow and sluggish in comparison.

It’s all about doors – in one room, out another … and an endless supply of plates of sardines.

Like all great farces, the audience is always at least one step ahead of the cast – and in this case it’s the cast playing the cast.

So in the play being staged, the housekeeper of a delightful country cottage is Mrs Clackett played by Dotty Otley. But Dotty is played by the marvellous Liza Goddard – rightly adored by Chichester.

The timing is tip top – stage choreography delivered like some immaculate piece of machinery. In the world of opening and closing doors at precisely the wrong moment, this is the Rolex of theatre.

It’s true that after 40 years its nearing antique status. But who cares? If January is the month that the nation aims to get fit again, this is the perfect tonic.

It’s more than funny – it’s a total riot.

There’s not a weak member of the cast – and it’s great to see Matthew Kelly in brilliant befuddled form too.

There’s nothing ‘off’ about this noisy play.