Stir Q&A: Noises Off's Andrew McNee talks mathematically timed farce and keeping a straight face
One of Vancouver theatre’s best-known comedic actors returns as hapless director Lloyd Dallas
Ming Hudson, Andrew McNee, and Tess Degenstein in Noises Off.
The Arts Club Theatre’s Noises Off runs at the Massey Theatre from February 15 to 27
IF YOU GO to live theatre in Vancouver, chances are good that local actor Andrew McNee has made you laugh.
His memorable comedic parts have spanned the physically outrageous, the goofy, and the dark. Think the Big Bad Wolf in the East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood; the yellow-jester-suited imaginary friend in Mustard; the ridiculous, job-juggling Francis in One Man, Two Guvnors; and, in 2020, the sad-fool Felix in Anosh Irani’s one-man Buffoon.
Now McNee makes a return to one of his most celebrated roles: the hapless, exasperated director Lloyd Dallas in Noises Off—a man who cockily reassures his ill-prepared cast to “think of the first night as a dress rehearsal”. If you missed the British comedy when it debuted at the Arts Club’s Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre in January 2020, on the eve of pandemic shutdowns that no one could have foreseen, now’s your chance to see farce that runs sheer hilarious chaos with the precision of a Swiss clock. Michael Frayn’s witty parody of backstage antics is a play within a play: doors slam, tempers flare, bottles empty, and pants drop. And God knows we could all use a good laugh right now.
We asked McNee about the challenges of Noises Off’s ever-moving parts and the joy of returning to the show after a pandemic pause.
What has it been like to reconnect with a production you staged on the eve of the pandemic, with no idea what was about to happen to theatre?
“It's been a strange way to bookend the pandemic, and in some ways almost amplifies the feeling that time has been put on pause. Many of us have found other ways to keep working, and I was even lucky to get to do the play Buffoon with the Arts Club just over a year ago (before it was shut down by restrictions), but there's no question that it's a bit surreal that we're coming back to this show that we finished just before everything shut down.”
In your own experience is the action funnier offstage than on?
“That's an interesting question... I'd have to say it depends on a few things. Mainly, the script, the cast, and the length of the run. Some scripts, like Noises Off, are hard to beat. So there's that. Then there's the chemistry of the cast, and how comfortable you feel with each other. This group of rascals is pretty spectacular to be around. And finally the length of the run affects how bananas things get backstage. The longer the run, the more comfortable you might get, and might look for ways to keep your castmates on their toes... In this case, however, there's so much happening on stage that we're pretty engrossed by what's happening onstage. There's so many moments in the show that I still absolutely die with laughter over, and I've watched the show many times. Many many times.”
People have called Noises Off a “Mount Everest” of farce, with its second act the most demanding ever written. Can you give us a sense of why, and the challenges of pulling off the perfectly timed chaos?
“In Noises Off, Michael Frayn has written a nearly mathematically perfect farce. It's truly a piece of music in its timing. It's so fascinating to learn more and more, as we come back to it in our current rehearsal, how many moments that we didn't notice before where the action onstage matches or comments on the action backstage. Moments that are timed down to the second. It really does make the second act so challenging and so wonderful to be in—it's a dance.”
What’s the most fun part about playing Lloyd Dallas, the arrogant, exasperated director who seems to get all the play’s best lines?
“One of the most wonderful parts of playing Lloyd is that I get the opportunity to watch my friends perform at the absolute peak of their talents, every night. It never ceases to amaze me. They're so fantastic and such beautiful performers, and I love to shout at them. Right in their faces. Again and again.”
Whether you’re wearing a Big Bad Wolf costume, a mustard-coloured jester suit, or the groovy leather jacket in this show, you always make us laugh. But what’s your trick for not cracking up onstage?
“That's funny, because when I think of rehearsal I remember cracking up ALL THE TIME. People who work with me will probably remark that my laugh rings through the rehearsal room pretty frequently. I wonder if a part of my process is getting those laughs out beforehand so that I'm able to keep it together when there's an audience... This question also makes me think about a specific part of my warmup before every play I do. While I'm warming up my body and voice on stage before the audience comes in, I'll look at a couple of the seats out in the house. I think to myself, ‘OK, those two people are here on a date. Maybe they got a babysitter. Maybe they paid for parking. Maybe they went for dinner and drinks before…’ And as a parent I can relate to how big a deal it can be to go out for an evening of theatre. So it's always my goal to give them the night that they paid for. And the night they paid for by no means stops at the price of the tickets. I feel like that's my responsibility. And it's my absolute pleasure. I really hope to provide that for the people who give us the gift of coming to this show.”
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