New Theatre, Cardiff
Mon 10 Apr
Crowds of people gathered outside Cardiff’s beautiful New Theatre under the spring evening sun, where they were excitedly murmuring and muttering about the show and its reputation of being one of the funniest plays around today. The Play That Goes Wrong – written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Sheilds of the Mischief Theatre Company – premiered in 2012 and has since had extraordinarily successful stints in London’s West End, been translated for performances in over 20 other countries, opened on Broadway (with J. J. Abrams making his debut as a theatrical producer), started a tour in Australia, and has been touring the UK since January. In essence, it’s a play within a play that, well, goes wrong in every conceivable way.
It’s certainly unlike any other play I’ve experienced; while queueing on a spiral staircase to enter the theatre, the cast come past us panicking about the show and shout ‘GOOD EVENING’ as they run. We then take our seats and the show’s stage managers continue to panic on stage, bringing up an audience member to act as a mantlepiece, while the lighting and sound operator asks if anyone has his Duran Duran CD all to the sound of Michael Giacchino’s score of the Abrams-directed Cloverfield: a sign of an impending disaster. The play then starts – following a tragically funny introduction from the fictitious am-dram society president, director and leading man -and the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society present Murder At Haversham Hall, a fluffy whodunnit featuring all the typical character tropes.
However, this is Murphy’s law in play form and if it can go wrong, it does. Those who are supposed to be dead aren’t, those who’re supposed to be conscious aren’t, lines are forgotten and mispronounced, sets break, fights break out, and people are seriously injured – all to roars, screams, coughs and cackles of laughter. Although at times this fundamentalist adherence to Murphy’s law did make things feel a little predictable, that doesn’t stop it being one of the most inventive, clever, and hysterically funny plays to exist.
The cast were all fantastic, touring the UK while the original cast are in New York; but it’s the cleverness of the writing and set design that steal the show. It’s painfully relatable to all those who’ve ever been dragged to a friend’s gig, play, or exhibition where the law of the land is Murphy’s, or worse… to anyone unlucky enough to have had to take part in one.
People love a disaster, and it’s the same science behind what makes films like The Room and Birdemic funny that makes The Play That Goes Wrong such a hit.
words LUKE OWAIN BOULT
The Play That Goes Wrong runs at the New Theatre, Cardiff, until Sat 15 April. Find out more information here.