Noises Off is a 1982 play by the English playwright
Michael Frayn. The idea for it came in 1970, when Frayn was watching from the wings a performance of
The Two of Us, a
farce that he had written for
Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier from behind than in front, and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind." The prototype, a short-lived one-act play called
Exits, was written and performed in 1977. At the request of his associate,
Michael Codron, Frayn expanded this into what would become
Noises Off. It takes its title from the theatrical stage direction indicating sounds coming from offstage.