The Play That Goes Wrong originated by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company, opened in London in 2012. It won Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards, and continued to tour in the U.K., while the Broadway company opened on April 2, 2017 at the Lyceum Theatre, after which it toured the U.S and moved off-Broadway to New World Stages, where it is still running. This laugh out loud farce follows the antics of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they attempt to put on a murder mystery drama entitled The Murder at Haversham Manor, a 1920’s murder mystery reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. In true “goes-wrong” fashion, everything that can fail does, as the drama society attempts to make it through the play to their final bows. With unwavering commitment, they soldier on through mayhaps and mistakes, improvising choices that ultimately bring the entire show down.
One of the most difficult aspects of the show was being true to the style and presentation of farce. Characterized by ludicrous improbable situations and a focus on timing to bring about buffoonery and physically comedic horseplay, farce is much, much harder than it looks. Each of the actors in the show plays two characters-- a member of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and the character in Hanersham Manor, the play within the play. The challenge was to motivate every action, find a way to make the mishaps work flawlessly even as they depict the destruction of the production, and really find the moments of comedy and comradery within this group of actors. In addition, many of our students were involved in rigorous stage combat training to make sure they safely perform and recover from the stunts in the show, and the technical crew was tasked with the enormous job of letting things fall apart safely ON CUE. The set becomes a character in its own right, as the play within a play unravels, and actors find themselves dodging set pieces, working through prop malfunctions, and reviving unconscious actors who’ve been "injured" during the performance. To say we were challenged on stage and off is an understatement, but I think these students really rose to that challenge beautifully and pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones.
Our version is The Play That Goes Wrong, High School Edition, which eliminated the second floor, and allows us to move the set to the PA State Conference where we will perform our show again in December. We’ve worked hard on the farcical elements of the show, as well as the management of the staged gags and technical work, but mostly we’ve just had an absolute ball configuring the ins and outs of this wonderfully funny romp through the mayhem that is often lovingly characteristic of community theatre. We hope you enjoy the show as much as we do!
Sincerely,
Christina McGovern
