Viking Theatre players had the audience in stitches throughout their performance of “Noises Off” at the Wareham High School Dec. 10 – 12 at 7 p.m, according to Director Carolyn Gomes Viera.

The play is a piece by playwright Michael Frayn. It is chock full of British humor, and is about a cast of actors putting on a play.

Gomes Viera said the students did a good job navigating the sometimes-difficult waters of a very adult play, and portraying characters experiencing things they never had, such as a supposedly cheating husband.

“The thing that was the hardest of all was Act II, with all the physical comedy, and not saying a word,” Gomes Viera said. “Conveying everything that was going on onstage and in their relationships with their bodies – … they were able to have that double life. That is very hard for an actor.”

Gomes Viera also said the students did an excellent job of essentially rewriting the play on the fly, after a cast member in a crucial role became “violently ill” right before the last performance. She said the costume designer, a young woman, stepped into the male role, and, with the help of the rest of the cast, pulled it off without detection.

“Not only were they able to come up with a plotline to explain his absence, it wasn’t until the end of the show, when we thanked our costume director for stepping in that the audience knew anything was different,” Gomes Viera said. “No one knew.”

Gomes Viera said she was proud of the students, and that everyone is looking forward to the Spring musical, “Legally Blonde.” She said the theatre department will be doing something a little different this year, in that it would be trying to involve the entire school, not just the theatre kids. She said they were even trying to find a couple well-trained chihuahuas to participate in the performance.

“It’s a big undertaking, but we are ready for it,” Gomes Viera said.