The Play That Goes Wrong
Immaculately staged... roused even a staid matinee audience to hysterics
The Times
Why see The Play That Goes Wrong?
the worldwide phenomenon
Scripted by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, The Play that Goes Wrong is an uproarious hour of slapstick humour, blubbered mispronunciations and perfectly timed sight gags, revolving around an amateur theatre production that's seemingly doomed to failure despite (or maybe because of) the cast's best efforts.
The show originally landed in London at Trafalgar Studio 2, where it was heralded by Telegraph theatre critic Charles Spencer as the funniest thing he'd seen since Noises Off. Those responsible, Mischief Theatre (formerly known as The Scat Pack), are a comedy theatre company first formed in 2008 by a group of graduates and students of The London Academy of Music & Art. Since their debut work in 2008, these talented imps have staged productions all over the UK and now dominate the West End with their bonkers productions.
What's The Play That Goes Wrong About?
After benefiting from a large and sudden inheritance, the inept and accident-prone Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempt to put on a 1920s murder mystery play in the West End. But as the hopeless thesps discover to their horror, everything that could go pear-shaped, does, with hilarious consequences. Corpses that can't lie still, props which disappear and reappear at the wrong time and a set that is literally falling apart will all ring true to any amateur performers out there (although hopefully, not quite to this degree). Couple all this with a Butler whose talent for garbling simple phrases is rivalled only by Fawlty Towers' Manuel and you have a production which probably won't be up for any Olivier Awards anytime soon...
Key Information
Audience
Run Time
Dates
Cast
Kazeem Tosin Amore as Robert
Colin Burnicle as Chris
Damien James as Dennis
Beth Lilly as Annie
Edi De Melo as Max
Aisha Numah as Sandra
Gabriel Paul as Trevor
Steven Rostance as Jonathan
Understudies
Harry Boyd, Mary McGurk, Clare Noy and Will Taylor
Creative
Created by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shield
Directed by Mark Bell
Design by Nigel Hook
Lighting by Ric Mountjoy
Costume design by Roberto Surace
Awards
2015 Olivier Award wins
Best New Comedy
Reviews
Customer reviews
Pippa
Made me cry
Mark
Superb
Craig Llewellyn
Laugh out loud brilliant