The play takes a fond look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss and passionate affairs turn every performance into a high-risk adventure. This comedy-within-a-comedy captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance toward the end of the run. Each performance is portrayed from behind the scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance. Brimming with slapstick comedy, Noises Off is a backstage farce of slamming doors, falling trousers and flying sardines!

Noises Off Summary:
Michael Frayn's frantic West End and Broadway farce makes a literal transformation to the screen in Peter Bogdanoch's faithful adaptation, which is transplanted from the London suburbs to Des Moines, Iowa to accommodate the (mostly) American cast. Michael Caine stars as director Lloyd Fellowes, assigned to bring the successful British sex farce "Nothing On" to the boards in America. In an intricate technical rehearsal, Lloyd puts his cast through their paces -- Garry Lejuene (John Ritter), an obliging feature actor; Dotty Otley (Carol Burnett), a fading theatrical star; Frederick Dallas (Christopher Reeve), a handsome leading man who demands to know the motivation behind every scene; Brooke Ashton (Nicollette Sheridan), the sexy leading lady; Belinda Blair (Marilu Henner), the seen-it-all second female lead; and Seldson Mawbray (Denholm Elliot), the inebriated character actor. The technical rehearsal goes off without a hitch, but as the play travels the country in pre-Broadway performances, the eccentricities of the cast come to the fore and the performances in Des Moines and Cleveland are complete disasters. Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide.

It is only hours before the opening of a British adult farce, Nothing On, and the touring company is hurriedly running through a final dress rehearsal in the Grand Theatre, Weston-SuperMare, before the first audience arrives.

Act One

During the first act, we are an audience to this production of a play within a play. The Nothing On cast is loveable, but mainly inept; however, we cheer for them under our breath and hope that they can pull it together and get the show on the road.

Dotty, the actor playing Mrs. Clackett, can’t remember her entrances and exits. Garry, the male love interest, can’t remember his lines. And Brooke, playing Vicki, the female lead, is constantly posing and primping, without any understanding of what the play is about or what she is doing. Trying to pull this all together into some semblance of a presentable show is the director, Lloyd Dallas, who is sitting in the darkened auditorium shouting out directions and trying to get everybody ready for opening.
Act 2, however, dashes all our hopes.

Act Two

For this act, we, the audience, are sitting backstage; the entire set has been turned 180 degrees. We can hear the actors performing out front, but what we see is the back side of the scenery flats, the stage manager trying to keep the action flowing and everybody happy, and the various antics of the actors offstage between their exits and entrances.

The play has been on the road for one month now, and relationships between cast members, as well as the quality of Nothing On have deteriorated. Garry and Dotty are in the middle of an unhappy love affair. Poppy, the assistant stage manager is pregnant; and Selsdon Mowbray, an actor in his late sixties, is trying to stay sober between scenes. Add to this, a visit by director Lloyd, who is there first of all to comfort his "overly excited" lover, Brooke, and second to try and save his play from total disaster.

Most of the company is in a continual state of agitation, and this disorder is carrying over into the play, causing missed entrances, flubbed lines, and general hilarity.

Act 3 is even more frenetic.

Act Three

It is a month later again, and the tour is reaching an end. We, the audience, are out front again, watching a performance of Nothing On that has reached the point of complete and hilarious deterioration. The business of performing the show has become subordinate to the business of solving personal problems.

Dotty refuses to come out of her dressing room. Garry is now drinking Selsdon’s whiskey. Scenery collapses, and props explode. Practical jokes have become common, and actors are now taking verbal, and sometimes physical, cracks at each other both backstage and on stage. Normal rules of logic and response don’t apply anymore.

Ultimately, however, they carry off the show--in some semblance. The unhappy band of actors manages to get to the last line, spoken by Selsdon: “When all around is strife and uncertainty, there’s nothing like . . . (takes the plate of sardines) . . . a good old-fashioned plate of curtain!”