Noises Off 
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London 
 

HAVING kicked off in late September at Theatre Royal Bath, this production of Michael Frayn’s celebrated farce-within-a-farce has moved to London for a 12-week season that runs until December 16.  
 
Catch it if you can, for while Noises Off will be revived in other forms for decades to come, there are unlikely to be many better versions than this one, directed at breakneck speed by Lindsay Posner and with a strong cast starring Felicity Kendal, Tamzin Outhwaite and Matthew Horne. 
 
Collectively exuberant as an unruly troupe of actors, rehearsing and then performing a rather weak farce that begins its tour in Weston Super Mare, Kendal & Co tackle all the touchstones of the genre with splendid verve, navigating Frayn’s comically bewildering stage directions with a plethora of banging doors, disappearing plates of sardines, and, of course, trousers falling around the ankles.  
 
If there’s a quibble to be had, it’s that the middle of the play’s three sections, in which we see the chaos of the company’s performance from a backstage viewpoint, is so breathlessly funny that the other parts pale by comparison, both in terms of the laughs they produce and the pace at which they progress. 
 
Perhaps, though, that’s the fault of the play itself, and in any case it would be difficult — if not dangerously exhausting for cast and audience members alike — to maintain the hilarious tempo throughout.  
 
Frayn — tall, thin and frock-coated — appeared on stage at the end, acknowledging the audience’s heartfelt thanks for his marvellous creation, which first saw the light of day in 1982. He’s in his 90s now and, sad to say, this could the last time he is present at a West End production of Noises Off. If so, then it’s a worthy one on which to bow out. 

Runs until December 16 2023. Box office: (020) 7930-8800, trh.co.uk