Date of Visit – January 2025
I really wanted to love this performance, but it felt like there were moments where I wanted to find it funnier than I actually did. Here’s what I liked, disliked, and why I left with the feeling of being underwhelmed.
SYNOPSIS:
‘THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG’ is a comedy play directed by Mark Bell and created by Mitchef Theatre. The production is celebrating its tenth year in the west end at the Duchess Theatre, which opened in September 2014 and is now the longest running comedy in the West End.
The play follows the opening night of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s production of the 1920’s murder mystery entitled ‘The Murder at Haversham Manor’. However, it doesn’t quite go to plan…
THEATRE EXPERIENCE:
Mischeif theatre’s, ‘THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG‘ is located at London’s Duchess Theatre, which is around the corner from a handful of other London shows, including The Lion King and opposite Mamma Mia. The show has been located at the Duchess since 2014.
Although I arrived at The Duchess around forty minutes before the performance. I had to wait in a large line that wrapped around the building. However, this looked far worse than it actually was, and within less than ten minutes, I was inside.
The Duchess is one of London’s smallest theatres, with the stalls actually being built underground.
Due to the size, it appeared the theatre only had one bar located in the foyer. However, on further investigation, I found that there is another in the stalls.
Unlike my trip to Oliver, I unfortunately couldn’t sit and enjoy a drink like I could over at the Gielgud Theatre. The bar area here was more like a quick service, fast food counter with a shelf on the opposite side where you could stand and enjoy a drink, however this wasn’t practical as the line for the bar clogged up this area, so after purchasing my drink I quickly went to find my seat instead.
I treated myself to one of the theatres’ speciality cocktails, all named after themes or quotes within the show. I got a ‘Good God I Needed That’ which did feel silly ordering and a programme for a combined total of £19.90 which I did think was on the expensive side, to say the least.
The cocktail, consisting of prosecco and passionfruit, was nice but slightly bitter, I did think it would be much sweeter than it was. However, the programme was pretty cool with it being an anniversary edition, showing cast lists of the past and information about the history of the production and Mischeif Theatre.
SHOW REVIEW:
Leaving the theatre, I felt underwhelmed by what I saw. Having seen Mischeif Theatre on television on a number of occasions, I was really looking forward to seeing them in the Eest End but left feeling a bit meh about what I saw.
There are elements of this show that I think are fantastic. The audience interaction from the cast playing their roles of members of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society before the beginning of the production and in the interval is great, as they come into the audience and shout from the stage that they’ve lost their dog that is needed for the production and that Trevor who runs the sound and lighting has lost his prize possession of a Duran Duran CD.
As well as this, we see the members of the drama society preparing the stage before the show actually begins, laying the flooring, placing props, etc.
This use of audience interaction makes you feel as though you are actually here to see the drama society put on their play as opposed to being here for ‘THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG‘.
The illusion of this being a play performed by the drama society that is going wrong was unfortunately tarnished halfway through the first half as we did have a show stop due to what seemed like a performer slicing their finger on a broken vase prop. Originally, members of the audience and myself included where unsure whether this was part of the production, but as ten minutes went by, it was clear this wasn’t part of the show.
Luckily, the performer was all okay and good to continue, which is the most important thing. This incident was mentioned by a fellow cast member at the end of the production, thanking us for staying patient with them during the break in the first half and how everyone is okay.
During this production, there were three understudies taking on main roles, with Colm Gleeson in the role of the drama societies president ‘Chris’, Alex Bird as ‘Dennis’, and Alice Stokoe as ‘Sandra’.
A special mention goes out to Colm Gleeson, taking on the role of the drama societies president ‘Chris’ who was playing the Inspector within this production. He was absolutely outstanding and definitely deserves to be playing a leading role in the West End. His interaction with the audience was superb, and his disgusted and shocked facial expressions to audience laughter at his play crumbling around him were absolutely hilarious. He was by far the stand-out performer.
Jay Olpin was also fabulous in the role of ‘Max’ he played the role of a bumbling idiot extremely well, and the audience absolutely loved him, his smile when realising he remembered his lines correctly was infectious and made the audience cheer and get behind him so much so, that I found myself forgetting at times that he’s acting and this isn’t actually a bumbling idiot forgetting his lines.
SUMMARY & OVERVIEW:
Overall, I thought this production had good elements embedded within, such as audience interaction. However, I felt myself at times feeling like I should be laughing more than I was.
With the comedy running for just over ten years, there were elements of this show that felt slightly outdated. Unlike other shows where they are set in a particular time period, we are led to believe that the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are from the modern-day. So when the lighting and sound guy ‘Trevor’ is missing a CD, this felt slightly odd as we are lead to believe he’s a University student and I don’t imagine many Uni students of today listen to much of their music via CD.
Another incident of this feeling slightly outdated was when Trevor was recording a funny moment on stage on what looks like quite an old and very small in size iPhone. We would again assume a tech guy in 2025 would have a more up to date mobile device.
Although I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG‘, I will definitely be paying a visit to Micheif Theatres’ new west end production of ‘The Comedy about Spies’ when it launches in April at the Noel Coward Theatre.
If you are thinking about seeing this production, I would still recommend you give it a go. Just because it wasn’t particularly my cup of tea doesn’t mean it won’t be yours. And with tickets usually all below £90 with the cheapest being £25 why not!
Overall rating of this production, ‘THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG‘ is ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five.
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