Al Valletta's zippy, fluid direction, a strong and well-rehearsed nine-member cast and an impressive two-story set (with more than a half-dozen doors to slam and three stairwells to run up and tumble down) easily make "Noises Off" one of North County's best new productions of 2006.

 "Noises Off" is the play-within-a-play story of an ill-fated English theater production that slowly disintegrates on its national tour. The script is ingeniously conceived in three acts. The first act is a sloppy rehearsal for the not-so-good farce "Nothing On," with the audience watching as flies on the wall. In the second act, the set has been turned around and the audience sees the zany (and entirely nonverbal) backstage shenanigans and fisticuffs while "Nothing On" is being quite terribly performed for an unfortunate audience (partially visible through some windows at center stage). Then, the set turns again for the third act and we are the audience for one of the final tour stops for "Nothing On."

Although the long first act drags (after all, "Nothing On" is a pretty bad play), it's crucial for setting up the characters and familiarizing the audience with the plot of "Nothing On," so that they can see how far and fast it can decline when its actors are preoccupied backstage with sexual affairs, breakups, drunken benders and jealous rages.

The second act delivers lots of laughs, but it's the third act, where the exhausted actors barely get through their lines, miss their cues and ultimately surrender to their misfortune that best shows off the gifts of this very good ensemble cast.

Janene Possell brings an authentic English flair to the role of the slightly dotty Dotty Otley, the aging grand dame of English television who can't remember her lines (or where she's left her multiplying plates of sardines) as the maid in "Nothing On."

Chris Ansoff shows the physicality of an acrobat, hopping up and down the shimmying stairs and taking a spectacular pratfall, as Garry Lejeune, the inarticulate and insanely jealous actor (whose breakup with Dotty leads to a homicidal rage in Act II).

David Fitzwilliam is endearing and understated as Selsdon, the elderly, and mostly deaf actor who frequently goes missing with whiskey bottle in hand.

Nick Bonacker is suitably haughty and ill-tempered as Lloyd, the philandering director of "Nothing On." Torre Younghans has a natural, likable charm as the lily-livered, nosebleed-prone actor Frederick. And Younghans real-life wife, Holly MacDonald, capably juggles all the balls as Belinda, the born-in-a-trunk actress who tries her best to hold the troubled production together.

Rounding out the cast are Wendy Wiltsey as the scantily clad Brooke, a beautiful young ingenue who's having an affair with the callous director, Lloyd. Deena Welch is believably beleaguered as the harried stage manager Poppy, and Joshua Garman has a light, fresh-faced presence as the stage manager Tim, who steps in frequently onstage for actors who've gone missing for various bizarre reasons.

Credit goes to Valletta for the show's tight timing, which involves hundreds of synchronized door slams and managing the complex staging device of having two plays (the dramas onstage and backstage) occurring simultaneously.

John Kalb's two-story set is remarkable, particularly in its mobility (the audience gets to watch the set being turned around and redecorated during the two 15-minute intermissions). Rob Wolter designed the lighting and costumes were designed by Yoland Kalb, Mary Bentley and Jean Anne Billings.

"Noises Off" (the theater term for backstage noises heard from the wings of a theater) runs two hours, 30 minutes, and is a fun outing for all ages. There are a few curse words in the show, and some mild sexually suggestive situations, but it's a delight and a wonder to watch and New Vision deserves applause for even attempting a play that most community theaters fear.