Noises Off At Northern Stage

Last night I went to see Noises Off at northern Stage, billed as ...

Riotous, raucous, hilarious, tears-rolling down the face, can’t breathe- it’s so funny, perfectly glorious comedy bliss.

... and as one of my rare grown up theatre trips of the year I had high hopes for this Micheal Frayn  play which is a co production by Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Nuffield Southampton. The show boasts loads of awards and has been honoured with many a brilliant review and I can see why!

Back to my proper grown up evening, I have a pet peeve about content warnings at the theatre I think personally they give too much away and are sometimes a bit silly (I mean ' May contain mild peril, smoking and use of sexist language' COME ON!)  BUT you know you are in for a treat when this is the content warning at the theatre entrance 

Now I should explain for anyone who doesn't know already that I have worked in theatre for over a decade before I gave up my career to look after the babies so I'm aware of the manic organised chaos that nobody sees going on behind, under and around the stage during a live performance so this play struck a real chord with me, as well as giving me a right laugh.

Photo Credit Robert Day 

Imagine being the fly on a wall in a theatre rehearsal, imagine being a fly on the wall backstage in the same performance and  then imagine everything that could go wrong if Basil Fawlty ran a Theatre. Mix it all up and you have Noises Off, truly the funniest thing I've seen in aaaaaaages! I rarely laugh aloud at TV, Movies or Theatre it has to be a really funny piece of work to make me chortle , don't get me wrong I'm not a stony faced hater but more a quiet chuckler! 

Not so much last night, I swear I had tears rolling down my face I was laughing so hard and I'm afraid to say even snorted with laughter at points, and the beginning of the second act when you are watching the backstage antics as the 'show' is live was so perfectly choreographed and hilariously directed that it was actually thigh slappingly funny! I think at one point it was so funny I had to slap the thigh of my companion !!!!

Photo Credit Robert Day 

There are fabulous performances by Ritu Arya, Robin Bowerman, John Elkington, Becci Gemmell , Brian Lonsdale , Sophie Nomvette, Patrick Osbourne and Carla Mendonca and brilliantly directed by Blanche Mcintyre . The set is a fab design which changes from a front stage to a behind the scenes view half way through. 

 In brief summary you will be watching a play about a play! The play in the play (are you still with me) is a good old fashioned British farce there's plenty of genteel raciness and some great entrance and exit character crossovers. So you are watching the theatre company rehearse and perform a play all the while dealing with, diva's, drink problems, dodgy props, affairs, lost contact lenses and SARDINES!

Photo Credit Robert Day 

You can catch Noises Off until 28 May and tickets are priced from 314.50, the show lasts 2.5 hours with an interval and I promise you its fabulous value for money I defy anyone to be able to sit through it without several chuckles! Book your tickets here, or call the box office on 0191 2305151

Musings of the Monkeyfooted Mini's

A recent conversation between the Peanut and I after I discovered 5 half eaten strawberry's in the box....

As if butter wouldn't melt! 

Me: 'it's not nice to bite the ends of the strawberry's and put half back, can you not do it again'

Peanut: 'I don't care' (full of petulance)

Me : 'this behviour makes mummy sad, where has my lovely daughter gone, the one who is nice to mammy'

Peanut (stomping up the stairs) 'she's gone to Dublin, BY HER OWN' (where her Grandparents and Aunties live) 

Mummy had no reply!

Musings of the Monkeyfooted Mini's

Kids say the craziest things, everyone knows that. But sometimes my kids make me laugh until I cry, sometimes they make me think, and sometimes they make me sad. Some of these posts may well only be meaningful to the residents of Monkeyfeet HQ but I'm going to share them so we can look back in years to come and remember.

Today's lesson; Animals

Peanut  was playing with Termites new night light, a turtle that projects the constellations and plays music ( a review will follow but it's not on my recommended buys list!)

 'Mamma if a turtle didn't have a shell it would just be a lizard, a really fat lizard' 

So now you know!

Please feel free to leave me a comment telling me crazy things your kids say, I'd love to hear them. 

My Funny Children

I'm sure as fellow parents you can relate to how funny our children can be, I've always said there hasn't been a single day since my daughter was born that I haven't found a reason to smile or laugh at something, no matter how tough day it has been.

But I find it really difficult to choose a single funny children's moment to talk about here because they are either personal 'inside family jokes', which would take a lot of explaining, or, and this is the embarrassing truth, they may not be appropriate for the public, my children after all are at an age of asking many questions about bodies and differences which makes me giggle a lot but I wouldn't necessarily repeat!

I could tell you how funny I found it yesterday when my daughter told me with great indignation that her brother 'poked her in her nose hole with a smurf' I realise on the surface this has more issues than just the fact that she forgot the word nostril, and we should have been concerned about her brothers behaviour. It was an accidental poke luckily though as my husband and I couldn't stop giggling at her terminology.

But my funniest moment of recent times has been a lesson learnt in how repetitive children are. My son recently spent some time with someone who found it funny to make him giggle a lot by 'pinching' his bottom. I say pinch, she was, like many grown ups do, thoroughly enjoying chasing him giggling round the garden pretending to be a crab and pretending to pinch his bum whilst telling him how lovely he was. Now I too am guilty of thinking my children's bottom's are truly works of genius cuteness and sometimes those chubby little legs warrant a great big munch and I know I'm not alone but we have to refrain and here's why.....

The very next day I was politely brought to one side by my sons key worker at playschool to be informed that he had been chasing her and a few children saying pinch pinch pinch and trying to pinch their bottoms! She was holding back tears of laughter when she told me especially as on the whole he is so chilled out and laid back they have never ever had to reprimand him for anything! So  we did need a conversation with him about the inappropriateness of

1. Pinching
2. Touching peoples bottoms 
3. Chasing people to do so

Lets just hope there have been no lasting effects and I don't catch him doing this in his teenage years!


This is my entry to the Comedy Cycle Tots Competition  and I'm also tagging two fellow blogger's to share their funny stories too, why not leave mea comment with your funny stories.

My Buggy Junction

 

Mama Mummy Mum