If you’ve never been involved in theatre, Theatre Tuscaloosa’s “Noises Off” might seem like a harmless play. Enjoy it. But if you have, imagine your theatre group, and think of the most dramatic, catty members – the ones that make soap operas wherever they go. It shouldn’t be too hard.

Now put them all together in a small set at midnight – now you have what English director Lloyd Dallas (Gary Wise) has somehow managed to gather for his new play (within the play) titled “Nothing’s On.”

There’s the she’s-locked-in-her-dressing-room-again drama queen (Molly Page) and the find-me-in-my trailer hothead. You’ve got the boozing, glory-days-of-yore thespian and the indecisive dainty (Charles Prosser), who is prone to nosebleeds when things get too exciting. And, of course, a director that is anal enough to coach Alabama football.

So it’s surprisingly unsurprising that in minutes the whole thing starts to descend into English playwright Michael Frayn’s quintessential, as the English put it, clusterbugger. It’s the last dress rehearsal, and the Ostar Productions company can’t even get through a door. Of course it all goes downhill from there.

As for the ensemble playing the ensemble playing the ensemble, it has trouble keeping up at first. Their English accents are admirable, but the effort dulls the comedy. They wear the accents like soggy jackets, numbing out the classic back-and-forth and the laughs as well. They might have been better off without, seeing as there’s nothing uncompromisingly British about the dialogue (other than excessive pomp and perhaps a strong affinity for sardines). By the end of Act I, I was worried; “Noises Off” wasn’t shaping up to be the debacle it portrayed, but something even worse: a bore.

But Act II shows the action from backstage. The set flips around and so does the energy, waking up the sleeping house and putting it in stitches. The banter takes a backseat to physical comedy, and Act II is a small masterpiece of silent pratfalls and sight gags. Pants are dropped, cactuses are sat on, love is triangulated and axe murder is attempted with a finesse that continues into Act III, when the set flips back around.

But that “Nothing’s On” even makes it to dress rehearsal is a bit of a stretch, even for Frayn. His characters can barely get past a line without some kind of breakdown, and their sheer, crippling dysfunctionality can get tedious. Some of the gags wear thin (the “it’s not what it looks like!” routine gets old quickly), and at 150 minutes and two intermissions, the whole thing is a bit long. But these are small complaints to such a delicate symphony of raunch that nudges the fourth wall without actually breaking it right up to the last bow.

It’s a big ensemble, mostly doubling up, and the show’s biggest achievement may be that all nine actors understand exactly what makes their characters funny, a surprisingly difficult feat which the University, good as they were, never quite managed with either of its fall plays. In a way, the show works opposite to its play-within-the-play. As “Nothing’s On” falls apart, “Noises Off” comes together. In a season that also started rough, “Noises Off” is the company’s most delightful production this year.