Noises Off

A motif found in Noises off could be income tax. Throughout the play within the play, Phillip and his wife are terrified about Inland Revenue taking some of their money for not being in Spain, as they said they were. Any hint of tax or income tax gives Phillip a bad taste in his mouth, and cause him to run for cover. For instance, there’s this scene where Phillip, Vicki, and Roger are running frantically around the house, afraid that one of the others are either a criminal or a member of Inland Revenue. Phillip screams,” Tax inspector’s everywhere!” This shows the concept of income tax repeating. Another example of this is the fact that Vicki’s sole purpose in being there revolved around taking files on tax evasion. Thus, it constitutes as a motif. The unifying principle could be  HAVING A CHAIN REACTION. I say this because all of the characters’ actions were either the cause or effect for another person’s actions. For instance, Flavia sees Philip downstairs, with his trousers down, and drops the biscuit tin in shock ad pain. Meanwhile, “Vicki flees before him and takes refuge in the linen cupboard” (53).  This is how the chain reaction is created. One person sees another, and instantly reacts. One of the level one moments in the script could be the beginning. Specifically, the scene where Roger and Vicki were just talking and walking around the house. It was a slow scene where not much action occurs.