Noises Off

Noises Off
Poster for the 2001 Broadway revival
Written by	Michael Frayn
Characters	Garry Lejeune Dotty Otley Lloyd Dallas Belinda Blair Frederick Fellowes Brooke Ashton Tim Allgood Selsdon Mowbray Poppy Norton-Taylor
Date premiered	1982
Place premiered	Lyric Theatre, London
Original language	English
Subject	Play within a play
Genre	Comedy

Noises Off is a 1982 farce by the English playwright Michael Frayn.

Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of The Two of Us, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind."^[1] The prototype, a short-lived one-act play called Exits, was written and performed in 1977. At the request of his associate, Michael Codron, Frayn expanded this into what would become Noises Off. It takes its title from the theatrical stage direction indicating sounds coming from offstage.