Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Pat Sieler, left, and Cheryl Boudreault rehearse a scene from "Noises Off," the West Valley College play which opens this weekend.

West Valley offers play within a play

By Tim Persyn

Imagine acting in a play that contains a play within the play.

To do this, you must learn two sets of lines, two characters, and two different personalities, then go on stage in two different productions within one overall performance. Sound complicated?

This is the task that faces actors preparing for a staging of Noises Off, a West Valley Theater Arts Department presentation opening March 22.

"The play is a very funny farce," said Virginia Drake, a West Valley drama instructor and the play's director. "It's a play about play production."

The plot centers on the actors in a company putting on a play called Nothing's On. As they take the play on tour, the actors' relationships with each other deteriorate until they can't stand each other.

Yet the tour and performance of the play must continue. The audience gets a backstage view of the actors trying to keep their production from sinking even as their play is on stage.

Pat Harrington, who plays the director of the ill-fated Nothing's On, said he admires his character. "He has the impossible task of saving the play and restoring order amid chaos."

Drake said she placed the West Valley production of Noises Off in the 1970s because of the "Benny Hill sex-farce comedy feeling" of the original play. The stage will be replete with 1970s accessories such as bell bottom pants and lava lamps. Pat Sieler, who plays the real estate agent Roger in Noises Off, said he prepared accordingly for the time period.

"I wore lots of polyester and listened to disco to prepare for the play," he said. "I also wore a Cen-tury 21 Real Estate jacket."

Noises Off, which was written by Michael Frayn, was once made into a movie starring Carole Burnett, Christopher Reeve and John Ritter. But Drake said the play comes across much better on stage than on screen. "The idea of a play within a play somehow works better on stage," she said. "It comes across a little flat on screen."

Harrington agreed. "The movie irritated me. You knew they took a lot of takes," he said. "On stage, it's more spontaneous. The more we rehearse, the more we improvise."

Noises Off will run March 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 at 8 p.m., March 24 at 2 and 7 p.m. and March 31 at 2 p.m. in the West Valley College Theater, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga. Tickets are $8 general admission and $6 for students with ID and seniors 65 and older.

Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and the box office opens 45 minutes before curtain. For further information, call 741-2058.