By Audrey Wade, general assignment reporter

Love, hostility and hilarity are a few words that could be used to describe Friends University’s production, “Noises Off.”

The piece, written by Michael Frayn, is a play about a play. The English cast attempts to put on a play titled, “Nothing On,” with Act 1 being the dress rehearsal the night before the play is to open.

As the rehearsal continues, it all goes horribly, beginning with a plate of sardines.

The second act shows the performance halfway through the tour and backstage. Personal drama has escalated among the cast members, and their personal vendettas are getting in the way of the performance.

By the third act, when you see the play in one of its final performances, everything goes so horribly that what was once a full play has become a frantic performance lasting less than 20 minutes.

The cast of “Nothing On” scrambles about the stage making mistakes, then trying to correct those mistakes with what they believe to be the correct move, but it only drives them further into confusion. Confusing? I would say yes.

This is the best kind of confusion though. The small cast of “Noises Off,” only nine, performed their hearts out with each act growing more and more exuberant.

There was a certain accuracy, or perhaps authenticity, to their movements. I often saw a smile move across a face and wondered if it was the character or the cast member who had messed up and wanted to smile.

Often, the drama among the characters would simply lay the hilarity right into the palm of your hand. Nearly every character was either interested in another, oblivious to advances, caught in a love triangle, a drunkard or sleep deprived.

Several times different characters were caught with their pants down, literally, for reasons not normally expected.

Watching such things is similar to the joy and misery that accompany each other when, as a child, you watched a sibling get into trouble while you went free. This performance gave much more joy than misery as opposed to some childhood memories.

The cast allowed you to freely laugh at and with them as they stumbled and slid across the stage, resulting in one of the funniest performances I have seen at Friends University.