Nothing on
Nerves off-stage, ease on-stage? Not at all! In a little English theatre, the last rehersal of the comedy Nothing On is underway. Tensions are thickening, the director Lloyd Dallas is getting nervous, actors are forgetting their lines, a door has blocked and a pilchard dish has turned into a very tricky stage property. However relaxing this legendary slapstick may seem, it would not work without perfect coordination and complicity of all actors: everything must go like clockwork. Yet theatre is anything but an idyllic place. When complicated, unresolved relationships among the actors add to the usual rehearsal problems, quite a drama is guaranteed. British playwright Michael Frayn (born in1933) wrote a brilliant situational comedy which drags us right into the entrails of theatre backstage, revealing – with humour and hyperbole – the ‘under-the-hood’ of the creative process. Nothing On (1982) offers a marvellous occasion for a concert of acting skills, a parade of dramatic gags and improvisation. That all is spiced up with light sarcasm and a few plates of marinated pilchards. This play-within-the-play arrives onstage under the direction of Lukáš Brutovský.
Description
ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Nerves off-stage, ease on-stage? Not at all!
In a little English theatre, the last rehersal of the comedy Nothing On is underway. Tensions are thickening, the director Lloyd Dallas is getting nervous, actors are forgetting their lines, a door has blocked and a pilchard dish has turned into a very tricky stage property. However relaxing this legendary slapstick may seem, it would not work without perfect coordination and complicity of all actors: everything must go like clockwork. Yet theatre is anything but an idyllic place. When complicated, unresolved relationships among the actors add to the usual rehearsal problems, quite a drama is guaranteed. British playwright Michael Frayn (born in1933) wrote a brilliant situational comedy which drags us right into the entrails of theatre backstage, revealing – with humour and hyperbole – the ‘under-the-hood’ of the creative process. Nothing On (1982) offers a marvellous occasion for a concert of acting skills, a parade of dramatic gags and improvisation. That all is spiced up with light sarcasm and a few plates of marinated pilchards. This play-within-the-play arrives onstage under the direction of Lukáš Brutovský.
Cast and creatives
Lloyd Dallas / Režisér: Tomáš Šulaj
Dotty Otleyová / Paní Clackettová: Hana Briešťanská
Garry Lejeune / Roger Tramplemain: Jakub Svojanovský
Brooke Ashtonová / Vicki: Štěpánka Romová
Frederik Fellowes / Philip Brent a Šejk: Tomáš David
and others
Author: Michael Frayn
Translation: Jaroslav Kořán
Direction: Lukáš Brutovský
Dramaturgy: Barbara Gregorová
