Meet Kerry from Noises Off!

Artistic Licence brings the much-loved comedy classic 'Noises Off' to the Torch Theatre this February. Performances take place in the Torch’s Main House from Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 February.

We caught up with Kerry who plays not one, but two characters!

What do you love most about playing your character?

I play Dotty Ottley. Dotty plays Mrs Clackett in Nothing On (the play within the play). There are scenes where I switch between one and the other, one moment I’m Dotty, the next I’m Dotty playing Mrs Clackett. It’s a fantastic challenge.

What’s the biggest joy or challenge of performing in a farce?

I think, in regard to this particular farce, Dotty would say that the biggest challenge is, ‘Sardines, love.’  Maybe, for me, it’s letting go of my inhibitions and not being afraid to make a fool of myself. You’ve got to go all out, otherwise the performance could fall flat. And there is something joyous in getting to fool about with a great team of actors! 

If you could be in any play ever written, what would it be and why?

Any play? I’d be in a sumptuous theatrical adaptation of Virginia Wolf’s novel, Orlando: a Biography. ‘The longest and most charming love letter ever written in literature’(Nigel Nicolson). It’s theatre on the page. And if I could, I would love to play Orlando!

Which playwright has inspired your love of theatre the most?

It’s impossible to mention only one, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Wilde (and the list could go on). They were all masters of tragicomedy and they wrote so wonderfully about what it is to be human. Michael Frayn, who wrote Noises Off, wrote serious political drama as well as comedy, and he translated most of Chekhov’s major works - I should give him a mention him, too!

Noises Off takes place in the Torch’s Main House from 5-7 February 2026. Tickets are available now from the Torch Theatre Box Office on 01646 695267 / visit the website www.torchtheatre.co.uk or click here.