Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use.

Sardines are a symbol that represent the obstructions that the actors in Noises Off face as they attempt to stage Nothing On. They are also a comic motif, as they turn up repeatedly in the action of both plays, like the “bad penny” of English idiom. 

In particular, Dotty struggles to remember when she takes the various plates of sardines on stage and off stage. Her character, Mrs. Clackett, says, “I’m going to be opening sardines all night, in and out of here like a cuckoo on a clock” (59). Not being able to hold onto her sardines is what keeps Mrs. Clackett from being able to relax and watch the television. Philip glues himself to a plate of sardines; they keep him from being intimate with his wife. The word “sardines” is a sticking point for Selsdon. It is the last word of the last line of Act I of Nothing On, and he can’t remember it. It gets in the way of the actors being able to finish the act and complete the final joke of the act.

On a literal level, Dotty spills the sardines on stage in Act III.