The device of a "play within a play" is hardly new, of course. Theater has always been meta. A Midsummer Night's Dream incorporates Pyramus and Thisbe, and Hamlet directs a loaded performance of The Mousetrap. Cyrano berates a ham actor, Montfleury. Actors love finding excuses to overact, and portraying a bad actor is terrific justification. As I watched Play On! at Olympia Little Theatre, I was reminded of a show I helped stage, Amateurs by Tom Griffin (1991), in which a community theater group frets over the reaction from a feared critic to its latest production. Most of all, I was reminded of Michael Frayn's beloved Noises Off - and if you've ever seen that show on stage or video, I promise you will be, too.

To read Christian Carvajal's full review click here.

Play On!

Through June 26, 7:55 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
1:55 p.m. Sunday, $10-$12
Olympia Little Theatre, 1725 Miller Ave. NE, Olympia
360.786.9484