Noises Off by Michael Frayn will run at the Orlando Shakespeare Center from September 7-25, 2022.
One of the funniest plays ever written, this hysterical play-within-a-play is filled with screwball antics, prat-falls and sight gags. A professional theater director must prevent his half-baked actors and an overworked crew from sabotaging his production with their off-stage shenanigans – and on-stage bedlam! This side-splitting comedy proves the adage – The show must go on!
I watched a movie, based on the play to get a feeling for the show before I started work on the poster. Every scene is incredibly fast moving with doors slamming off stage and on stage. I became intrigued by a scene in which a beautiful woman looses hr contacts and the actors all struggle to find in on stage. It is a very meta moment in which life and art combine in a hilarious moment.
My first pass at the poster was of the curtain falling on that scene as the actors struggle to find the contact lens. Granted the Shakes will likely not have a curtain in the Margeson Theater, but it offered me an opportunity to show the chaos of the scene as just a thin slice. It leaves much to the imagination. The notes were pretty straight forward and make sense, “More legs, less curtain.” That in itself could be a guiding principle of any theater production.
I always do two sketches of each poster to make sure I am exploring different options. I had heard that there might be a spinning stage that shows back stage as well an the forward facing stage set. I wanted to explore a back stage scene that faces out towards the audience. One of the actors has a drinking problem and to keep the production moving forward, the cast has to hide his bottle. There is an upper balcony on the set with multiple doors, so back stage these would have to be a staircase to get the actors up to those imagined and never seen rooms. The problem with this poster is that the show had not been cast yet.
The final poster was a simple revise of my first concept. I had to get rid of a few actors legs but the idea certainly holds up with everything bigger, larger and better. I am excited to see the show. Several of the actors I have seen in other productions and they are absolutely hilarious. Tickets range from $26.25 to $36.76