The Play That Goes Wrong

The Play That Goes Wrong
Official artwork for the West End production transfer to the Duchess Theatre
Written by	Henry Lewis Jonathan Sayer Henry Shields
Date premiered	2012 (2012)
Place premiered	Old Red Lion Theatre
Original language	English
Genre	Comedy
Official site

The Play That Goes Wrong is a 2012 play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company. It won Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards.^[1] As at September 2021, the show has been running since 2012 in London; since 2014, the play has undertaken four tours of the UK.

Mischief Theatre Company have also written Peter Pan Goes Wrong, which premiered in December 2013,^[2] and Magic Goes Wrong, which premiered in August 2019. Two television specials, an adaptation of Peter Pan Goes Wrong and a sequel titled A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, aired on BBC One in December 2016 and 2017.^[3][4] A TV series, The Goes Wrong Show, followed in 2019.^[5][6]

Plot[]

Before the play starts the audience see the backstage staff doing last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantelpiece and find a dog that has run off.

The fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society (Cornley University in the American version), fresh from such hits as The Lion and The Wardrobe, Cat, and James and the Peach (or James, Where's your Peach?), has received a substantial bequest and is putting on a performance of The Murder at Haversham Manor – a 1920s murder mystery play, similar to The Mousetrap, which has the right number of parts for the members. The script was written by the fictitious Susie H. K. Brideswell. During the performance, a play within a play, a plethora of disasters befall the cast, including doors sticking, props falling from the walls, and floors collapsing. Cast members are seen misplacing props, forgetting lines (in one scene, an actor repeats an earlier line of dialogue and causes the dialogue sequence triggered by that line to be repeated, ever more frenetically, several times), missing cues, breaking character, having to drink white spirit instead of whisky (paint thinner in the U.S. production), mispronouncing words, stepping on fingers, being hidden in a grandfather clock, and being manhandled off stage, with one cast member being knocked unconscious and her replacement (and the group technician) refusing to yield when she returns. The climax is a tribute to a scene in Buster Keaton's film Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), when virtually the whole of the remaining set collapses.

Productions[]

London (2012–present) and UK tours (2014–present)[]

The play premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London in 2012, moved to Trafalgar Studios in 2013. The play then opened at the Duchess Theatre in the West End on 14 September 2014, where it remains and is currently booking until January 2022. [1] The direction is by Mark Bell. The cast included Henry Shields as Chris, Dave Hearn as Max, Rob Falconer as Trevor, Henry Lewis as Robert, Charlie Russell as Sandra, Jonathan Sayer as Dennis, Greg Tannahill as Jonathan, and Nancy Zamit as Annie. Sets are designed by Nigel Hook and built by Splinter Scenery. Costumes are designed by Roberto Surace.^[7][8]

The play began a UK tour in January 2014 at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, visiting 17 venues and ending in Darlington in July, prior to the opening at the Duchess Theatre in London.^{[citation needed]} It began a second UK tour from January 2017, starting at the Theatre Royal in Bath, ending at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in August.^{[citation needed]}, A third UK tour occurred in 2018, ending in October in Poole. And a fourth UK tour commenced on 13 July 2021 at the Marlowe Theatre Canterbury,^[9] and is due to conclude at the Waterside Theatre Aylesbury on 27 November 2021.^[10]

Broadway (2017)[]

The play opened on Broadway on 2 April 2017, with previews that began on 9 March 2017 at the Lyceum Theatre. The production featured the original London cast, and film director J. J. Abrams made his debut as a theatrical producer.^[11] The production closed on 6 January 2019, after 745 regular performances and 27 previews.^[12]

Australian tour (2017)[]

A touring production began in Australia at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne from February 2017, before heading to Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth.^[13]

US Tour (2018)[]

The play toured North America, starting in September 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[14][12] The original tour cast included Brandon J. Ellis as Trevor, Evan Alexander Smith as Chris, Yaegel T. Welch as Jonathan, Peyton Crim as Robert, Scott Cote as Dennis, Jamie Ann Romero as Sandra, Ned Noyes as Max, and Angela Grovey as Annie. Also on the tour as understudies were Michael Thatcher, Sid Solomon, Blair Baker, and Jacqueline Jarrold.

Off-Broadway (2019)[]

The Broadway production transferred Off-Broadway to New World Stages on 11 February 2019.^[15] As of March 12, production was suspended through June 7, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This suspension has been extended until October 15, 2021 when it will reopen for the first time since March 2020.^{[16] [17]}

TV specials[]

Two television specials, an adaptation of Peter Pan Goes Wrong and a sequel titled A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, aired on BBC One in December 2016 and 2017.^[3][4]

A TV series, The Goes Wrong Show, followed in 2019.^[5][6] In December 2019, a full series of "The Goes Wrong Show" was broadcast featuring 6 episodes^[18][19][20] with the same cast as the other two TV specials. Each episode was said to have received an average of 2.2 million people watching it when broadcast.^[21]

Following the success of the first series, the BBC commissioned a second series which is scheduled to air later in 2020.^[22]

Roles and principal casts[]

Casts[]

Characters[]

• Chris Bean, who plays Inspector Carter and serves as the show's director, set designer, costume designer, prop maker, box office manager, press and PR person, dramaturgy, voice coach, dialect coach, and fight choreographer and filled in for the role of Mr. Fitzroy during rehearsals
• Jonathan Harris, who plays Charles Haversham
• Robert Grove, who plays Thomas Colleymoore
• Dennis Tyde, who plays Perkins
• Sandra Wilkinson, who plays Florence Colleymoore
• Max Bennett, who plays both Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardener
• Trevor Watson, the lighting and sound operator
• Annie Twilloil, the stage manager

Awards and nominations[]

Original London production[]

Original Broadway production[]

Off Broadway production[]

Reception[]

The Play That Goes Wrong received positive reviews. Tim Walker of The Telegraph gave it four out of five stars, calling it "a great-looking, brilliantly performed piece" and stated that "I have seldom, if ever, heard louder or more sustained laughter in a theatre."^[26] Mark Shenton of the London Theatre gave it four out of five stars, stating that though the play would not appeal to everyone, "you cannot fail to admire the ceaseless energy of the cast", and shared that "the real surprise is just how well-sustained the joke is."^[27]

Sarah Hemming of the Financial Times gave the play four out of five stars, noting its shared lineage with plays such as Noises Off and stated that "It’s not new then, but it is often very funny." Though she found areas in the play that needed improvement ("it would be funnier if it started more subtly, rather than at full tilt.... The company could also make more of offstage dynamics"), she considered the play to be "largely a joyous show."^[28]

The Broadway production of The Play That Goes Wrong won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design in a Play.

International[]

The Play That Goes Wrong has been translated and licensed for productions in over 30 other countries, namely China, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Greece, Israel, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Iceland, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, South Africa, Slovenia, South Korea, Portugal (UAU), Croatia, Russia, India (Natak na Natak nu Natak by Sharman Joshi Productions) and the Czech Republic.^[29]

References[]

External links[]

• Internet Broadway Database
• Official website