The Play That Goes Wrong is a play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company.
It won Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards.
Mischief Theatre Company have also written Peter Pan Goes Wrong which opened at London's Apollo Theatre in December 2015 and starred the original cast from The Play That Goes Wrong.
Video The Play That Goes Wrong
Plot
Before the play starts the audience see the backstage staff doing last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantlepiece, and to find a dog that has run off.
The fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, 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. During the production 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, 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.
Maps The Play That Goes Wrong
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 began a UK tour, following its run at Trafalgar Studios, from 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.
The play then opened at the Duchess Theatre in the West End on 14 September 2014, where it remains and is currently booking until September 2018. The direction is by Mark Bell, and the cast features Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. Sets are by Nigel Hook and costumes are by Roberto Surace.
The play began a second UK tour from January 2017, starting at the Theatre Royal in Bath, ending at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in August.
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 features the original London cast, and film director J. J. Abrams makes his debut as a theatrical producer. The production is expected to close on 6 January 2019, after 745 regular performances and 27 previews.
Non-UK Tours
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.
United States (2018)
The play will tour the United States, starting in September 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Awards and nominations
Original London production
Original Broadway production
Reception
The Play That Goes Wrong received positive reviews. Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail gave it five stars out of five, saying "As it all goes awry it becomes hard not to gas yourself with laughter. At one point I feared I was going to hyperventilate." Tim Walker of The Telegraph gave it four out of five stars and called it "a great-looking, brilliantly performed piece".
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 20 other countries, namely China, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Greece, Israel, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Iceland, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, South Africa & India (Natak na Natak nu Natak by Sharman Joshi Productions).
References
External links
- Internet Broadway Database
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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