The Play That Goes Wrong is a Tony Award winning Broadway comedy
about the Cornley University Drama Society’s attempt to put on a
1920’s murder mystery production when obviously- everything that could go
wrong, does go wrong. As a lover of the theater and a former high
school and college actor/thespian, I know firsthand the trials encountered
during show production. In The Play that Goes Wrong, everything on the set seems to combust and so
does the audience with laughter in this classic physical comedy.
Reflection
I had reservations about going to a non musical comedy because it takes a lot for
this girl to laugh. This play could have fit perfectly into a skit on the 70’s
iconic Carol Burnett Show which used
quirky characters and physical comedy to elicit waves of laughter. It had all the elements of a flash back
classic comedy, people falling, getting hit by doors, things failing to work, actors
forgetting lines, missing props and more. It was hysterical because there is something that tickles our
funny bone when we watch “things going wrong”. Look at the popularity of
television shows “Bloopers” and “America’s Funniest Video”. This play was the race track of non-stop "things going wrong".
As you enter the theater, you get a teaser of what is going to go south during the Cornley University Drama Society’s murder
mystery production of “The Murder at Haversham
Manor”. The Stage Manager (Angela Grovey) and the Lighting and Sound Operator (Brandon J. Ellis) frantically try to make last minute adjustments to the faulty set. There is even audience participation
to hold the set together. The Play That Goes Wrong starts out “wrong”. We were greeted with bursts of audience
pre-show laughter as we took our seats.
The drama society’s
production,“The Murder at Haversham Manor”, prompted a flashback memory of playing the Milton Bradly board game “Clue” with characters Professor Plum and
the gang. The audience really does not pay much
attention to what is going on in their
play because everyone is focused on the actor's hysterical attempts to overcome the continuous obstacles of the production.
The fictitious actor,
Dennis Tyde (Scott Cote) can’t remember his lines and mispronounces the words scribbled
on his hand. Max Bennet (Ned Noyes) pantomimes his lines like he is playing Charades. Chris Bean (Even Alexander Smith) is
a genius of physical comedy as he holds up the loose props falling off the wall by manipulating
his tall body like he is involved in a game of Twister. It keeps going and the audience keeps laughing.
The mishaps climax when the entire set seems to combust with collapsing walls, lights, props and the set's second story floor. The audience explodes with laughter as the actors press forward to reach
the final curtain call! The Play that Goes Wrong goes so very right by
giving us a hysterical night of comedy.
(The Play that Goes Wrong runs from September 18 through September 23, 2018 at the Benedum Center for the Arts. For Tickets and for upcoming shows in the Pittsburgh Broadway series go to trustarts.org ).
Other sources
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust trustarts.org
Other sources
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust trustarts.org
