A riot of sexy Brit wit

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From the classic genre of dry-as-a-martini British sex farces (think BBCs To the Manor Born or Benny Hill) British playwright Michael Frayns classic, Noises Off comes to The Little Theatre of Alexandria.  

Devised as a play-within-a-play-within-a-play, the audience is in on the joke and an adorably risqu joke it is filled with snappy repartee, double entendres and a constant stream of ludicrous misinterpretations.

As the curtain rises we are treated to a seemingly serene drawing room in the English countryside. The manors newly wedded couple Phillip and Flavia Brent are honeymooning in Spain. But we are actually viewing the stage at the Grand Theatre in Weston-super-Mare where Lloyd Dallas, the director of a motley troupe of British actors, is staging his final dress rehearsal and it is most assuredly not going according to script. Six neurotic actors, one frustrated director and two overworked stagehands threaten to undermine a smooth opening. 

Actress-as-housekeeper Dotty Otley, aka Mrs. Clackett, cannot keep her props in order ditto for her timing. The proper sequence of picking up a plate of sardines and replacing a phone receiver are too vexing for her and the paternalistic director tries to soothe the perpetually flummoxed actress.  

But being flummoxed is the order of the day for this hapless group of has-beens, who are all sweetly sensitive to each others foibles. When Belinda Blair, playing newlywed Flavia Brent and thinking the rehearsal is just a technical run through, declares, I just love technicals.  Everyones so nice to everyone! its a swell insiders joke.

Enter yet more confused actors in the form of family solicitor Roger Tramplemain, aka actor Adam Downs, and his frothy little minx Vicki, aka actress Brooke Ashton, both hell-bent on an illicit out-of-the-office tryst.  The duo explain their unannounced arrival by telling Mrs. Clackett, aka the more aptly named Dotty Otley, that the owners are selling the house and Vicki is there to explore the posh digs.  

But their coitus is interruptus when the stage becomes a high-speed whirlwind of slammed doors and miscues following an unexpected early return of the homes honeymooning owners and an opportunistic burglar played by an actor whose booze-fueled missed entrances require a trio of understudies.

There is plenty of opportunity for things to go horribly wrong, and they do in spades with sloppy timing, muffed lines and faulty scenery as the order of the day.

By Act III the play is in its third month and the casts backstage romantic high jinks have reached a feverish pitch. In a clever reverse the set becomes the theatres backstage and the audience yes, thats still us is treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the complexities of stagecraft. The beleaguered Dallas tries vainly to keep all his actor-ducks in a row while carrying on simultaneous affairs with both Poppy the Prop Girl (Elizabeth Heir) and Brooke the deliciously corseted and gartered minx.

That the action takes place in stage whispers and arm-flailing pantomime while the show goes on out of view, is screwball comedy at its finest.

In real life the seasoned cast of this zany production is more than up to the task.  In particular, Bruce Alan Rauscher, who provides anchor with his haughtily solicitous portrayal of Dallas; Kat Sanchez, a thoroughly engaging morsel of ingnue eye candy; and Adam Downs as Lejeune, her floundering Venus flytrap. Gayle Nichols-Grimes sets the Mrs. Malaprop tone with true aplomb as the put-upon housekeeper, Rachel Hubbard rocks the eternally simpatico Belinda Blair, and Lars Klores does some mighty scene-stealing as husband Freddie. 

Thank real-life director and LTA veteran, C. Evans Kirk, for bringing us this frothy bowl of sexy Brit wit. 

At The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe St., through November 26. For tickets and information call 703-683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com.

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