BERWICK — Now playing at the Hackmatack Playhouse is the comedy “Noises Off!” by Michael Frayn.

The show – a N.Y. Theater pick – ran for the third time on Broadway from December 2015 to March 2016. To say that “Noises Off ” can be described as a comedy would be to say that Michael Jackson was an entertainer, Muhummad Ali was a fighter or that Steven Spielberg makes movies. True, some folk may not find this show to be funny. There are also some folk who are tone deaf. (They have my sympathy.)The expression, “You have to be there” is an apt one when one tries to explain the madcap goings on in this show.

For example – and I get ahead of myself here – the line “an old-fashioned plate of sardines,” surely not funny when spoken the first time becomes uproarious by the end of the first act.

One notices the set at the start of the show with its staircase on the left, an upstairs and down, with two doors in the center and one on each side upstairs and the same door arrangement on the lower level with the exception of two windows on the left. These doors are not there merely for decoration but play an integral part in the show. After the first act and during intermission, a kind of miracle takes place. This set, designed by Jerard James Craven, is in three sections and somehow a crew of five manage to turn everything around and what was on the right side is now on the left and vice-versa. This metamorphosis gives the playwright an opportunity to show the audience the chaos that ensues from the beginning during a live performance. During the second intermission the sections return to their opening position.

The characters are all drawn with comedic and knowing care. The director of the company, Lloyd Dallas, played by Christopher Savage has a deep voice – think Darth Vader – and has enormous patience, which becomes strained during the course of an endless dress rehearsal. (“Do I take the sardines off the stage” for the umpteenth time OR “Do try to make your entrance on time,” followed by “I should not wait to make my entrance” “Yes, you should not wait” … etc.

The first character, Dotty Otley played by Heather Wixon, is the ditzy housekeeper who is house-sitting for a playwright that is supposed to be in Spain. The director (Dallas) interrupts the rehearsal to speak to Poppy Taylor (Samantha Smith) … who it turns out also has feelings. Soon a young couple Gary Lejuene (Jeff Marcus) and Brook Ashton (Michelle Wilke) enter bent on an amorous encounter thinking they have the house to themselves. (Oh …) Then the playwright and his wife show up (the plot thickens) He is one of the breed of actors who need to know what his motivation is and who suffers for nosebleeds. And there’s Frederick Fellows (Michael Stailey) and Belinda Blair (Danica Carlson).

Somehow Belinda finds Brook’s dress in the upstairs bedroom and takes it away, leaving Brook to appear in her undergarments in the first act. Just when the action is going smoothly (or as smoothly as it is going to get) we meet Tim Allgood (Adam MacDougall) who plays the part of a bumbling thief, and we later learn has a liking for booze. Not wanting to take any chances Dallas asks Sheldon Mowbray ((David Duraham) to understudy the part of the thief. At long last the dress rehearsal of the show within a show and the first act end with the audience reciting the line “an old fashioned plate of sardines.”

For the cast of the play’s second (or third) tier of provincial actors, things go from bad to worse as friction and unexpected romances cause the play to almost come apart. In the third act, this actually occurs, and pratfalls, a broken (landline) telephone and non-existent lines in an irrelevant script cause the show to disintegrate.

The actors in the show have a great sense of timing, know their lines well, and the expert direction of A. Nora Long contributes to making “Noises Off!” the effective comedy that it is. I suppose that I should find something to criticize, which is that the show ends too soon, on July 2. Remaining performances take place on June 22-25 and June 29 to July 2 with matinees on June 23 and 30. To those wanting to have a good laugh or three, see this show. Tickets can be ordered by calling 698- 1807 or on the website hackmatack.org.

— Dr. Morton Gold is a composer/ conductor, retired educator and an arts reviewer for the Journal Tribune.