How do you take on the funniest farce ever? Alan Paris tells Veronica Stivala he suspects the playwright wrote this play as tidy revenge on actors and their egos.

Noises Off has been called the funniest farce ever, and I concur. I stumbled upon the 1992 film version with a young Michael Cane and even younger Christopher Reeve while flipping television channels.

It was one of those serendipitous moments when you realise you’re watching something good and don’t want it to end.

The play was originally written by English playwright Michael Frayn in 1982, and in a nutshell is a meta-play (a play within a play) where everything goes wrong.

Watching the characters run on and off stage as they try to undermine each other is indubitably the source of much comedy. And while never crass, a young girl running around in her underwear and an old man dropping his trousers is also, in true slapstick style, quite funny.

This is the second time Masquerade is staging this production, having originally staged the play some 11 years ago, also at the Manoel Theatre with a mostly different cast, although also directed by Anthony Bezzina.

Another interesting link is that the 2004 cast featured Faye Paris, Alan’s wife, who stars in the new version.

In this April 2015 version veteran actor Alan Paris plays the part of Garry/Roger. As Garry, he is the highly-strung guy with no patience for anything or anyone really and totally incapable of finishing his sentences.

Then there’s Roger – the character that Garry plays in the play within the play. He’s an estate agent who tries to fool a lady into thinking that the house they’re in is actually his. He is constantly trying to get her in the sack, while keeping the housekeeper at bay.

Noises Off has always been one of Paris’s favourite farces, so when Bezzina offered him the roles, he could not say no.

“It’s beautifully written, extremely fast-paced and complicated for the actor, but thigh-slappingly hilarious for the audience to watch,” he notes.

It’s also about the staging of a production where things just go hopelessly wrong, spiralling into absolute mayhem. A nightmare in real life, but a joy to perform.

The play starts during a dress rehearsal, when you see what’s happening on stage. Then the set revolves and Act 2 is based during a performance.

You can see what is going on backstage during this performance. There are practically no words in this act. It’s all mad gesticulations and loud whispers. Practically everybody in the cast has fallen out with each other by this point.

The level of concentration that you need for something like this is unbelievable

“Portraying this with just actions is a challenge, but makes for fantastic comedy,” says Paris. By Act 3 the production has completely fallen apart and we see only a semblance of the original.

Needless to say, rehearsals are great fun. “With a comedy like this,” says Paris, “you can’t but laugh through them.”

Of course, they are hard work, as it’s all in the precision of the timing. The actors have eight doors to work with, various plates of sardines coming on and off stage, axes, bottles and a wandering phone.

“The level of concentration that you need for something like this is unbelievable,” he says. Paris likes working with Bezzina because he knows how to approach a play like this. “He doesn’t waste time in rehearsals,” says Paris. “It’s work, repeat, work, repeat, which is essential for a production like this.”

The most difficult thing in farce, especially in Noises Off, is timing and sequence. During two pages of script Paris has to walk in through six different doors, while making sure that whoever was on in-between has got off stage.

Generally, each time, he is also carrying a different prop onto the stage and bringing something else off.

“I have this feeling that Frayn had had quite enough of working with actors and their egos, and writing this production was his tidy revenge!” quips Paris.

Paris is only just out of another production (The People Next Door), and I’m curious to know how he makes the transition without suffering burnout, besides juggling a demanding career and family.

My question is met with an animated “Ha!”.

Paris’s coping strategies include trying not to do back-to-back productions, giving himself a week in-between, at least, to re-wire.

He spends as much of his free time as he can with his wife and children, as he knows that for the six weeks after the break he is barely going to see them.

“Time with them is the best form of relaxation. When I’m not doing a production, I get as involved with the children as I possibly can.”

As for his job, while he manages to keep things going, he explains that he is very lucky to work with a company that understands and supports him in this.

It must also be great fun to be working with such a great and funny script,and I’m curious to discover any funny slip-ups.

“We’ve all had genuine real-life moments in rehearsal that are totally reflective of our characters in the play,” says Paris.

Getting behind the right door, with the right prop at the right time unsurprisingly has generated much confusion, followed by many giggles. There have been too many instances for Paris to mention, so he settles with saying that “art reflects real life reflects art”.

Noises Off runs Friday, Saturday and next Sunday and April 24, 25 and 26 at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta.

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