Dobbins Conservatory kicks off season with 'Noises Off' at Bedell Performance Hall

The Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance starts the 2024-2025 season with the comedy 'Noises Off' in the Bedell Performance Hall from September 26 to 29.

In a description of the play on SEMO’s website, Noises Off is a classic farce praised for its laugh-a-minute comedy by Michael Frayn. It follows a theatre troupe attempting to mount a production of a bad British bedroom farce while battling trouble onstage and drama offstage. The production quickly starts to fall apart as their tour continues, and it all ends with a hilarious -and disastrous- final act. This production has mature content.

Tim Nicolai, assistant professor of the Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance and the show’s director said as a department they chose this particular show because they felt the community was hungry for comedy.

“We were looking at the season that we kind of preliminarily picked, I thought there was a big vacuum where we just didn't have a comedy and the production committee were we were all on the same page there. We wanted to kind of flagship show that we thought people would be excited to see. I know a lot of people in the community remember this show. May have even seen it multiple times. It's my mom's favorite show, but it is a kind of laugh-a-minute thing that we thought would be a great escape,” Nicolai said.

The production features a full ensemble Nicolai said having nine characters the audience will be with throughout the play.

“It's it's quite rare in that way. I would not say there's a lead, per se, every single one of those characters carries the play at some point,” he said.

The play will be treated as a period piece and set in the 1970s, pre-disco. The characters will have on bold bright colors and patterns from that time while also making the play true to the era as well.

“ We're really trying to turn that up into the most fun version that it can possibly be in our world. And I think it's fun to be teleported. I think it's really fun to walk through a portal and feel like you're in a heightened version of the 70s,” Nicolai said.

Nicolai said while this play is very well known to the theater audience they are having their own fun with the elements they have changed while also honoring the script as well as they can.

“It's an iconic production that you hear about from a very young age. The New York Times called it the funniest farce ever written. And so when you're in theater, it's something that you hear about very early on as a sort of as a sort of guiding light for what comedy,” he said.

Throughout the play, while there is poking fun at the theater culture and community Nicolai said there is a message in the play about humanity and perseverance. There are moments when the characters should probably stop but they keep going he said, even when things are falling apart you just keep going because that is what these performers do.

Nicolai said there are many things from the production that are his favorite but watching the design elements come together is a blast for him as well as seeing the performers really get into the play.

“I think they're having a fantastic time. They are trusting each other. They're constantly pitching new ideas, we're still, finding new moments and new things to laugh at every night. And I would say, for me my favorite part is probably just the performers really playing and discovering things,” he said.

'Noises Off' will be performed Sept. 26-28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 28-29 at 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased by contacting the River Campus Box Office, located in the Cultural Arts Center, weekdays from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., by calling (573) 651-2265, or online at RiverCampus.org. Currently, enrolled Southeast students can get a $5 ticket by visiting one of the three university box offices with their student ID.

“We rarely get to do productions like this anymore. It's so rare to have an opportunity to get hundreds of strangers in a room together and just get to escape and laugh for a couple of hours. I think it's a really special thing, not just for our school but for the community, for the region, and it's a thing that I don't treat lightly, because I think there is, especially in election season, there might be some, tension and emotions are high and this is a real opportunity to just step out of the real world and escape for a bit,” Nicolai said about the Noises Off production.