The Play That Goes Wrong – Conceived and written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. Directed by Fred Sullivan, Jr.; Scenic Design by Peter Colao; Costume Design by Gail Buckley; Lighting Design by John Malinowski; and Sound Design by Dewey Dellay. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St., Boston through December 18.
by Mike Hoban
Fans of farce and physical comedy are in for a treat with The Play That Goes Wrong, now being presented by Lyric Stage. Pratfalls, spit takes, corpses that won’t lie still and even a fart joke are delivered rat-a-tat by a solid cast, and although the genre may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be at least a few belly laughs for even the most discerning playgoers. And for anyone who’s ever been involved in community or fringe theater productions, you can safely revisit your fears of impending doom from the safety of your seat.
First presented in a London pub by comedy troupe Mischief Theatre, the show premiered at London’s Old Red Lion Theatre in 2012 before moving to the Duchess Theatre in September of 2014 where it’s been playing ever since. TPTGW hit Broadway in 2017, ran for 745 performances over two years and a national tour followed. The play is currently running Off-Broadway at the New World stages, testimony to its appeal as a light entertainment
As the lights go up, we see stagehand Annie (Alexa Cadete) trying to affix a mantle to the fireplace in the drawing room of Haversham manor. Frustrated, she recruits an audience member to assist her in the task, but can’t get it done and walks away with the mantle in hand as first-time director Chris (Michael Liebhauser, who plays role of Inspector Carter as well) introduces what he believes will be the Cornley University Drama Society’s finest production, a thrilling Agatha Christie-esque whodunit – The Murder at Haversham Manor. “Finest” may not be the best description of the troupe’s efforts, but there are plenty of laughs as whatever could go wrong does – in spades.
As the play-within-the-play opens, Charles Haversham (Dan Garcia), who is set to announce his engagement that evening to the lovely but allegedly hysterical Florence Colleymoore (frequent Shakespeare on the Common performer Nora Eschenheimer), is – after some false starts – lying prone on the couch. His best friend and brother to Florence, Thomas Colleymoore (Kelby T. Akin), and Perkins the butler (Dan Whelton), try to enter the room to see why he is not answering their call. Unfortunately, the stage manager (Mitch Kiliulis) has spent more time looking for his missing Duran Duran boxed set than paying attention to whether the door actually works, and they’re left helpless outside. When they do finally find their way into the room (no spoilers) they find that Haversham has been murdered! (cue emphatic light and sound effects). It sets the stage for an evening of mishaps, sight gags, misplaced props, and forgotten lines delivered in rapid succession. Incidentally, the plot is a reasonably clever send-up of murder mysteries, and the over-the top acting by the strong cast provides plenty of parody-driven laughs of its own, but it’s the physical stuff that propels this comedy.
Trinity Rep stalwart Fred Sullivan ably guides his cast (which also includes Marc Pierre as Cecil Haversham/Arthur the gardener) through what could easily have become an incoherent mess, given the play’s multiple moving parts. Not every comedy bit in the show works, and there are times where the gags feel repetitive or just plain dumb, but there is generally little lag time between genuine laughs. The set by Peter Colao is an accurate stand-in for a community theater version of a “manor”, but he really deserves additional credit for designing a second floor that (safely)collapses on one side with the actors still on it, which provided a legitimate sense of peril. In a nutshell, TPTGW is good fun, which, after the high drama of the nail-biting midterms, we could all certainly use. For tickets and more information, go to: https://www.lyricstage.com/
