If you've ever acted, directed or "teched" for a play (or even wanted to do any of those things), Tacoma Little Theatre's production of Noises Off is the play to see. In three acts that seem to take far less time than their two hours, the audience watches as the cast attempts to rehearse and perform the play Nothing On. "Attempts" is the key word, you see, not because the cast isn't talented or rehearsed - but because the real play, Noises Off, is a farce about the theater. It's a play about putting on a play.

Director Marty Mackenzie includes this definition of farce in his director notes. "... A comic genre that depends on an elaborately contrived, usually improbable plot, broadly drawn stock characters, and physical humor. Most farces are amoral and exist to entertain."

Mackenzie goes on to ask the audience to "jump on the wagon and go for the ride," also stating he has "a stellar cast and fabulous crew." The director is correct on both accounts - as was evident by the audience roaring with laughter at the antics of the actors (except four older patrons who decided during the second intermission that they'd "had enough" and left).

Read the fill review here.

[Tacoma Little Theatre, through April 25, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $15-$24, 210 N. I St., Tacoma, 253.272.2281]