So incredibly wrong it has to be right!

The Play That Goes Wrong

★★★★★

• What: Comedy
• Where: Duchess Theatre
• When: Booking until October 2022
• Cost: Tickets from £22

If you wish to experience a bit of adventure this weekend, book yourself tickets to The Play That Goes Wrong, performed by Mischief Theatre. During the production, an ‘amateur’ acting group attempt to put on a play called “The Murder at Haversham Manor” — but nothing seems to go right!

By the time we took our seats, the stage had (mostly) been set. The entire show takes place in one location — a grand room of their fictional Haversham Manor, complete with fireplace and accompanying cutlasses. Whilst the set design is static, there are multiple levels for the cast to explore: with a study set on a second floor above a library. The set design incorporates a lift that (quite understandably, given the nature of the play) stops working in the first act. Meanwhile a grandfather clock erroneously shows the time to be 5 o’clock out of sync with both the real world, and the events of the play. 

The show starts in a delightfully haphazard manner, with some crew members asking the audience to “check underneath [their] seats” for a missing actor. This merely served to segue into some emergency repairs to the set! (If you do attend, please bring a hammer, because it will be required). The events of the play begin with the liveliest corpse you will ever encounter, and within the first five minutes, I was wholly convinced that I had come instead to see the murder mystery: “The Murder at Haversham Manor”. Albeit being butchered by some terrible actors(!).

The Play That Goes Wrong truly satisfies the trifecta of classic “amateur acting mistakes”: missed lines, missing cues, and missing props. What the physical comedy doesn’t provoke, the actors line up themselves in a comedic fashion. Props “innocently” misplaced by one actor result in hilarious consequences a few scenes later — hindsight wonders why the audience had not previously anticipated such an obvious mishap. But it is the transitions between scenes that keeps the jokes fresh, as the build-up invests the audience in trying to spot the next thing to go wrong!

A wronged brother starts a sword fight (what did you expect, putting cutlasses next to the fireplace?); but it turns into a good game of play fighting when the swords… stop existing. Paint stripper is the drink of the day it seems, after another comedic “accidental” mixup, with the butler very much unaware that the bourbon he is meant to be serving has turned clear. 

Rather disappointingly, the first act ended on a much-laboured gag that lasted far too long to remain funny. However, the intermission had me wondering why my cheeks were hurting; and, despite the unfortunate conclusion to the first half, all the audience remarkably returned for a second act. 

If anyone was wondering how the troupe could possibly top the set catching fire in the first act, these fears are quickly allayed as: murder and betrayal plague the second half.

In keeping with the chaotic brilliance of this show, the leading lady gets knocked out and recast so many times I had to give up keeping count. In fact, I’m pretty sure she spent more time unconscious than acting at all! 

The physical tension built up from the deteriorating set eventually gives way–there were gasps and screams from audience and actors alike as the set breaks–putting actors in precarious positions. Although the scenes (and catastrophes!) in the first act appear crafted for theatre, the second act delivers mishaps so ludicrous you have to question how on earth they can be performed safely. 

You would think that they would eventually run out of things to have go awry, but I actually left disappointed that more things didn’t go wrong! For this reason alone, I was almost tempted to give this a 4.99/5 rating, but I have to concede that it does, in fact, deserve my five-star rating. 

It is perfect for people who appreciate this type of humour, and I would recommend watching a few excerpts of previous abridged performances before confirming your tickets. With Covid passes and e-tickets in hand, we were seated within 3 minutes of approaching Duchess Theatre, and I promise that staying for Act 2 will be well worth it!