We have this love of all things that mess-up, break-down, or misfire, or indeed any other verb you’d care to us – oh yes, cock it up. Stick on a video of someone tripping over, or a dog walking on a polished floor and we’re hooked. If that’s you, then you will love this night at the theatre.
You only have to look at the ‘Alright on the Night‘ programmes, or indeed the millions of TikTok videos that get posted every year, where the stars of the show are those that ‘fail miserably.
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, which is at the Wales Millennium Centre this week, takes that premise, puts it on stage and makes an absolutely hilarious two hour show out of it.
As I was driving home after the performance (in my £2 a litre car), I was thinking about how I’d write the review. So much of what I’ll tell you will imply that the acting is shockingly bad, and the show is riddled with mistakes, which it is. But I feel I must say, these are all part of the act – everything in the play is meant to be. The cast are brilliant actors, and the errors are all real in this comedy – I just want to say that upfront before I begin.
The guys at Mischief Theatre have been getting it wrong for a long time, 15 years in fact (so in your face TikTok) and are masters at turning everything they ‘cock-up’ into a massive success. They rule the roost in the West End of London, have taken their brand of silliness onto BBC1 TV and have plays and shows going wrong all over the world.
So, it was opening night last night and we went along to watch the show and tell you what we think – but let’s leave it to the audience first off all, who were in fits of laughter from start to finish. Here’s what some of them thought of the show.
The Play That Goes Wrong does exactly what it says on the poster, it’s a play, and it goes wrong. That’s something you’d think an easy task, but actually, the skill and precise timing of all the cast is a joy to watch. Proving that getting it wrong, right, takes a mighty talented team of players, and that’s what we have in the capital this week.
So, the plot, and yes there is one, which the company attempt to stick to amongst all the madness.
On stage we are to watch a production by the amateur Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society (portrayed by the real professionals). The players are presenting ‘Murder at Haversham Manor‘ a good old fashioned 1920’s mystery that should keep us all thoroughly entertained. A murder mystery with a twist perhaps? Oh yes, there is a twist – not one single thing goes right on stage, when they say the play goes wrong, boy do they mean it.
Incidentally, treat yourself to a programme if you can – it’s a nice dual-purpose thing with information about The Play and cast, but also the Cornley Drama Society.
There is much to tell you, which had us laughing so hard on occasions that we almost missed a few gags that followed. Everything from missed entrances, forgotten lines, appalling accents, to pismonunciations – sorry, mispronunciations and also a very uncooperative set, which became more and more lethal as the show progressed.
There are many things you’d expect to go wrong, and they do, doors – lights, and absolutely shocking acting, but there is so much in the show that took us all by surprise, and these were often the funniest. Even the gags which you could see a mile off were really funny when the punchline hit – either visual or verbal.
You’ll need to keep your wits about you, the physical stuff is easy to catch, and carried out masterfully I might add, but with gags and puns aplenty and a joke count higher than the price of a litre of petrol, there’s a chance a few of them might pass you by.
Reviews on productions like this are sometimes difficult. We do of course want to tell you about the show so it may tempt you along to see it – and we would highly recommend you do by the way. What we don’t want is to ruin the surprise. It’s like having tickets for your favourite comedian but have some numpty spoilt it all by tell you the gags and punchlines.
So, let me bring this non-numpty review to a close with a couple of things.
First of all, we really love what Mischief do on TV, the shows kept us entertained for many evenings through lockdown. On stage however the whole experience comes to life. For may reasons; great acting, funny script, brilliant teamwork, but most of all, it’s the elements of surprise.
Even though we know we are going into the theatre to watch something go wildly wrong, our brain seems programmed to expect polished and professional, especially somewhere like the Wales Millennium Centre stage.
With the ‘Mischief’ productions you do of course get the most polished of performances, but it all goes madly, stupidly and over the top wrong, that it sometimes blurs the lines between. The brilliance of the show is that you will leave the theatre wondering whether it was really, really wrong, or really wrong because it didn’t go right on the night.
We reckon the writers, HENRY LEWIS, JONATHAN SAYER and HENRY SHIELDS, have either been in in some pretty disastrous productions, which inspired their writing, or they just have brilliant comic minds – we’ reckon it’s a bit of both.
I delibratley haven’t singled out the cast as they are all excellent, and this really is a production which requires the most precise teamwork. But now, I’m going to give a little mention to COLIN BURNICLE who is the Director of the on stage show and also turns up as Inspector Carter.
Colin gets the most out of the audience with some excellent interaction, and true to form with shows like this, Cardiff had a few mentions and, of course, garnered lots of cheers, and a few pantomime boos, from us in the audience. When he steps away from the action to ‘chat’ to us, he really personifies the ‘amateur director/actor he portrays.
Everyone else is also terrific…….
KAZEEM TOSIN AMORE (Robert), DAMIEN JAMES (Dennis), BETH LILLY (Anne), EDI DE MELO (Max), AISHA NUMA (Sandra), GABRIEL PAUL (Trevor), STEVEN ROSTANCE (Jonathan). With HARRY BOYD, MARY MCGURK, CLARE NOY and WILL TAYLOR the understudies.
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is Utterly hilarious, totally chaotic and simply brilliant. Let me throw one more into the mix – it’s also a completely exhausting experience, in the best way possible.
The pace is frantic, the gags are non-stop and the errors of comedy are superb. The cast are brilliant at being bad. Relentless at performing rubbish, and awesome at acting awful. There were real hold your breath moments too where you felt for the safety of the cast, with falling props, malfunctioning doors and general mayhem happening all around.
Seriously, who would have thought that being shambolic could be so stupendous.
It is also a show for everyone. There really was young and old in the audience last night, and everyone was caught up in this good, clean, family-friendly production.
Incidentally, if you’re wondering about the Murder at Haversham Manor production too, well that all wrapped up better than expected – eventually.
Just one final thing. Please make sure you’re seated about 15 minutes prior to the curtain going up. I don’t want to say whay and ruin the surprise, but it is so worth it, if not a little confusing for the briefest of moments.
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is causing chaos at the Wales Millennium Centre through till Saturday 18th June. Performances are at 7:30pm with 2:30pm matinee shows on Thursday and Saturday. There’s a signed performance on Thursday evening, which is selling well so you need to get in quickly for that one. They also have an open captioned performance on Friday evening. For details and tickets, go HERE.
We would also recommend a visit to their website to find out more about the show and amazing cast – HERE.
You can also read our original feature HERE.
