Backstage, things are chaotic. To those working on a play it may not be funny, but to an audience, the behind-the-scenes drama can be hilarious.

This is the kind of humor one can expect to see during the City College production of “Noises Off,” playing at the Garvin Theatre, March 5 through 22.

“Noises Off” is a play within a play. Although it may seem like a cliché premise, Michael Frayn has been recognized for writing “the funniest farce ever written.”

“It’s gone on to be a modern classic of a farce,” said Jay Carlander, who plays Lloyd and is a history instructor at City College. “It’s, in my opinion, the Mount Everest of farces. It’s a very difficult play to do because it’s so demanding in terms of timing, physical comedy and just a thousand cues that are interrelated.”

Carlander plays the director of the play within “Noises Off” called “Nothing On.” He was drawn to this production because of the show itself, and especially because of director, Rick Mokler.

Mokler is a Professor Emeritus and has directed over 52 plays during his 20 year tenure. He waited 12 years for the rights to the show to be released and now City College is finally able to do a production of the satirical comedy.

The cast has many City College Theatre Group regulars, including Ann Dusenberry as Dotty, Sean Jackson as Garry and Janina Mason, who is also a City College student, as Brooke.

Told in three acts from three points of view, the audience sees the same scenes from different perspectives.

The first act is the dress rehearsal of the English sex-farce, “Nothing On,” shown on a large, two-story set.

“All farces have lots of doors, lots of slamming doors,” Carlander said. “So there is a whole bunch of doors in this show and we have to learn the timing with our exits and entrances and all the doors that you have to slam right on cue.”

For the second act, the set rotates so you are seeing the first act from behind. The audience will hear some of the same lines from the first act, but now from the back.

By act three, “Nothing On” has really begun to fall apart. The actors have been at it for three months, and begin making up lines, drinking booze and missing their cues.

“The comedy of this farce stems from the fact that this company that’s putting on this play called ‘Nothing On’ is inept and has all these rivalries and jealousies and affairs and I get caught up in that,” Carlander said.

The show will run for two weeks at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available at theatergroupsbcc.com.