Noises Off is a 1982 play 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." 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.
Hugo Wallace Weaving is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has also been recognized as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia.
Jim Broadbent is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film Iris (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for his leading role as Lord Longford in the television film Longford (2006). Broadbent received four BAFTA Film Award nominations and won for his performance in Moulin Rouge! (2001). He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Stephen Vincent Moore was an English actor, known for his work on British television since the mid-1970s.
Pantomime is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and in other English-speaking countries, especially during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing. It employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. Pantomime is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is encouraged and expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.
Anne Reid, MBE is an English stage, film and television actress, known for her roles as Valerie Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street (1961–1971); Jean in the sitcom dinnerladies (1998–2000); and her role as Celia Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020) for which she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. She won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actress of the Year and received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the film The Mother (2003).
Lorrae Desmond born as Beryl Hunt, was an Australian Gold Logie-award-winning singer, recording artist, radio and television presenter, character actress, and playwright, with a career that spanned over 55 years both locally and the United Kingdom.
John Michael Broadbent, MW was a British wine critic, writer and auctioneer in a capacity as a Master of Wine. He was an authority on wine tasting and old wines.
Evan George Patrick Barlow is an English actor, comedian and playwright. His comedic alter ego, Desmond Olivier Dingle, is the founder, artistic director and chief executive of the two-man National Theatre of Brent, which has performed on stage, on television and on radio. Barlow was born in Leicester.
Gail Kane was an American stage and silent movie actress.
The Arts and How They Was Done was a comedy radio programme that aired from April 2007-May 2007, featuring Desmond Olivier Dingle and the entire National Theatre of Brent, Raymond Box. There were six half-hour episodes and it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It starred Patrick Barlow and John Ramm, and was directed by Martin Duncan.
John Yeates Barlow was a Mormon fundamentalist leader in Short Creek, Arizona.
The 39 Steps is a parody adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon. Patrick Barlow rewrote this adaptation in 2005.
The Patrick and Maureen Maybe Music Experience was a radio situation comedy, initially broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It starred Patrick Barlow and Imelda Staunton as the bickering hosts of their own radio program. The show was written by Patrick Barlow, who is also the creator of the National Theatre of Brent, in which he, in his alter ego of Desmond Olivier Dingle, serves as artistic director and chief actor.
The National Theatre of Brent is a British comedy double act, in the form of a mock two-man theatre troupe. Patrick Barlow plays Desmond Olivier Dingle, the troupe's founder, artistic director and chief executive. The role of his assistant was first performed by Julian Hough. It has subsequently been taken by various actors, including Jim Broadbent, Robert Austin, and John Ramm.
Three Men on a Horse is a three-act farce co-authored by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. The comedy focuses on a man who discovers he has a talent for choosing the winning horse in a race as long as he never places a bet himself. Originally titled Hobby Horse by John Cecil Holm, Three Men On A Horse was a property controlled and produced by Alex Yokel, who reached out to Warner Bros. for financial assistance; Warners agreed to provide financing on the condition Yokel find someone to doctor the script and direct the Broadway production. George Abbott, the director, who had since 1932 directed and produced each of his Broadway productions, immediately saw the potential and rewrote the script and agreed to direct if he received co-author credit and split the author's royalties with Holm. Abbott wrote a third act, resulting in a new three-act play titled Three Men on a Horse.
The 1989 New Zealand rugby league season was the 82nd season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the National Provincial Competition that was won by Auckland.
The Nut Farm is a 1935 American film directed by Melville W. Brown, adapted from the John Charles Brownell Broadway play of the same name, which ran for 40 performances from 14 Oct.-Nov. 1929 at the Biltmore Theater. Wallace Ford is the titled star and the only cast-member common to the play and film. According to the New York Times film review, other than Ford, "There is not much else for it to boast about."
Outside Looking In is a 1925 Broadway three-act comedy written by Maxwell Anderson, produced by Kenneth Macgowan, Robert Edmond Jones and Eugene O'Neill and directed by Augustin Duncan.
Calendar Girls is a musical with music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and a book by Tim Firth. The musical is based on the 2003 film Calendar Girls, which is in turn based on a true story.
