The Play That Goes Wrong - Wolverhampton Grand

Stars *****

It sounds like a complicated concept - it is a play about a play that goes wrong, actors playing actors - but it actually works. From the moment it started we were in tears of laughter and I can honestly say I have never known a play that has had the audience laughing constantly all the way through before. I am still aching today!

The fictional amdram group is called Cornley Polytechnic and they happily admit they're not that good but they enjoy what they do and you can see that they throw themselves fully into their roles.

The real cast are from Mischief Theatre Ltd a comedy improvisement company and it shows through at their responses to heckling and audience participation, and even Cecil's surprise when he gets laughs and applause when he stops to take a bow.

The "play" is a murder mystery although very little investigation manages to happen. If something can go wrong it will do: The stretcher they carried the body away with wasn't attached to the poles so he was left behind; the shelves collapsed and needed a "stage hand" to hold the candlesticks up; the door jammed and, as you can see in the picture, everyone fell through the door; cast members were knocked out; the upper stage collapsed; pictures fell...

During the interval the "director", who had spent a lot of the play on his phone, was running around the theatre calling for a dog which wasn't found until curtain call and required an empty lead being carried around stage when the dog was supposed to be on stage.

I highly recommend that you go and visit this play if you get a chance!

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG – Mischief Theatre’s West End comedy hit tours the UK!

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG – Mischief Theatre’s West End comedy hit tours the UK!

 

The Play That Goes Wrong was recently announced as the winner of the Whatsonstage.com Award for the TICKETMASTER Best New Comedy 2014 having exploded onto the stage with phenomenal success last year. Opening at the Old Red Lion in London to unanimous rave reviews, the show then transferred to the West End where it enjoyed two successive runs at the Trafalgar Studios, followed by a sell-out season at the Edinburgh Festival.

 

Triple Olivier award-winning Top Hat producer Kenny Wax who is co-producing the UK tour says: “A few months ago a Producer friend asked me to accompany him to see The Play That Goes Wrong at the Trafalgar Studios. I was totally charmed we offered them a deal on the spot. I should add that I have never been quite so impulsive before, but I had a real desire to help this bunch of daredevil and totally committed young actors to bring their show to a wider audience. There’s something very satisfying about hearing an audience laugh, cheer and to then watch them leave the theatre with an enormous sense of elation. I have no doubt that this production will do the same.”

 

Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields and directed by Mark Bell, The Play That Goes Wrong is a highly physical comedy packed with finely-tuned farce and Buster Keaton inspired slapstick delivered with split-second timing and ambitious daring. The play introduces The ‘Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’ who are attempting to put on a 1920s’ murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong… does, as the accident prone thesps battle on against all the odds to get to their final curtain call.

Mischief Theatre was founded in 2008 by a group of graduates of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and began as an improvised comedy group. Recent winners of the Edinburgh Festival’s ‘Spirit of The Fringe’ Award, Mischief Theatre performs across the UK and internationally with improvised and original scripted work. The recent success of The Play That Goes Wrong has put Mischief firmly in the spotlight, attracting international attention from theatre producers worldwide. The company is led by Artistic Director Henry Lewis and Company Director Jonathan Sayer. This is Mischief’s first No. 1 UK tour.

 

Director Mark Bell trained at Ecole Internationale de Theatre, Jacques Lecoq. Credits include: Endgame (BAC), On the Road to Baghdad (Sadler’s Wells), Amok, The Breeze and Backwash (Hoipolloi) and Get Out of Here (Commotion). He has taught and directed at LAMDA, CSSD and East 15 acting schools in the UK and at Cours Florent Paris, ITCA in Italy and Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

 

The Play That Goes Wrong is directed by Mark Bell, with designs by Nigel Hook, lighting by Ric Mountjoy and performed by Mischief Theatre members: Charlie Russell, Dave Hearn, Greg Tannahill, Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer, Nancy Wallinger and Rob Falconer. The UK tour is produced by Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence Ltd.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG
Tue 29 April – Sat 3 May 2014
Tue – Sat eve 7.30pm, Wed and Sat Matinees at 2.30pm
Tickets from £9.50 - £24.50