Imagine a Carol Burnett sketch taken to the 10th power. Or "The Benny Hill Show" at its most demented.

Now wrap that around a plot that revolves around errant plates of sardines. And slamming doors. And dropped trousers. That sums up "Noises Off," a new Fulton Theatre production that will save you the air fare to London to catch British farce at its most manic.

Michael Frayn's stage hit, which has been playing on both sides of the pond since its 1982 debut, offered an appreciative Fulton audience a double treat in its Thursday night premiere. "Noises Off" is about the disastrous staging of a second-rate sex comedy titled "Nothing On," so it's really two plays in one. "Nothing On" belongs in the so-bad-it's-good category and "Noises Off" amply lampoons the type of productions that (supposedly) entertain the masses in English places like Weston-super-Mare and the Theatre Royal in Ashton-under-Lyne but never quite make it to London's prestigious West End. The idea is that what goes on behind the curtain is funnier than what's on stage, and "Noises Off" delivered in that capacity, if the reaction at the Fulton was any indication.

The small cast is in fine form, and it's a good thing there are only nine players. They generate enough energy — and mayhem — to more than fill the stage. (One wouldn't want to see 20 people trying to pull off this sort of thing.)

"Noises Off" is funny, but it's also exhausting in a way that's good for the audience, but no doubt a perpetual challenge for its stars. "Stars" is the word here because everybody gives their equal, each in their own way.

Audiences might remember Jane Ridley as the fearsome Sister Aloysius in the Fulton's "Doubt," but she's having a lot more fun here as Dotty Otley, a longtime television actress who spends most of her time in her tour of "Nothing On" dealing with those aforementioned sardines. Why? We don't know what sardines have to do with a sex comedy, but they're there a lot, turning up on the set, vanishing from the set, being stuffed down the cleavage of another actress and, at one point, making a most unwelcome appearance on a sofa.

It's all poor Dotty can do to keep up with instructions like "leave the sardines and take the newspaper" — or is it the other way around? — and dealing with the much put-upon director of "Nothing On" (Christopher Gerson, whose character isn't above comparing himself to God) doesn't help. Neither does sharing the stage with ditsy co-star Brooke Ashton, played by Chelsey Whitelock, who has a running problem with losing contact lenses and juggling the men in her life on and off stage. Whitelock, making her Fulton debut, was whip-smart with her dumb-blonde dialogue, but easily drew laughs without saying a word: She's perfected the art of the vacant stare.

Clueless in a different way is Deanne Lorette's Belinda Blair, one of those regal oh-so-British types who soldier on no matter what. Blair is either slightly out of it or maybe she's aware every second of the disaster unfolding around her and is keeping the proverbial stiff upper lip and rolling with the punches. That's put to the test as matters fall more and more apart as "Nothing On/Noises Off" progresses.

It's the three contenders for leading man who face the brunt of things, and each does so in his own comedic fashion. David Graham Jones' Garry could give "Monty Python's" John Cleese a run for his money in the facial reaction department, and he literally throws himself into the role, at one point sliding down a staircase head-first. One doesn't know whether to cheer for or feel the pain of Zachary Fine's Frederick, a character who has to deal with uncooperative pants, frequent nosebleeds and at one point being menaced backstage with an ax. And A. Bryan Humphrey steps miles away from his last Fulton appearance — as the dignified Inspector Hubbard in "Dial M for Murder" — as the booze-loving Selsdon Mowbray in "Noises Off." He makes a bottle of scotch a comic foil every bit as funny as a living co-star.

Wrapping up the cast are two appealing young second leads: Nick Abeel as Tim, who single-handedly has to save the show at one point, and Tarah Flanagan as Poppy Norton-Taylor, who almost steals the second act just by talking into a microphone. Fans of the irreverent British sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" might be reminded a little of Bubble, another character who had to hold everything together in her own offbeat way.

Comedy is many things to many people, and "Noises Off" isn't a showcase of wit or sophistication. Noel Coward it isn't. Slapstick and pratfalls abound, but that's the way it's supposed to be. Its play-within-the-play, "Nothing On," might be the most ill-fated evening of theater ever staged, but "Noises Off" delivers a far happier outcome, one reflected in an opening night that indicates the Fulton could very well have a hit on its hands.

"Noises Off" runs through March 28 at Fulton Opera House, 12 N. Prince St., in downtown Lancaster. For ticket information, call 397-7425 or visit thefulton.org.