As soon as you walk into the New World Stages Theater and take your seat, you’re immersed in the world of “The Play That Goes Wrong.” As a play within a play, “The Play That Goes Wrong” focuses on the fake “Cornley University Drama Society’s” production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor.”
As you’re waiting in your seat for the show to start, cast members who are playing the roles of the light and sound technician and stage manager are frantically walking around asking if you’ve seen the missing dog for the show.
The stage manager, Annie, played by Joanie Anderson, does a preshow bit with an audience member to get the crowd laughing before the show even begins.
The audience member was stuck holding up a mantelpiece while Annie walked offstage. Later, Annie also asks the audience member to grab a toolbox that just won’t budge off the floor. Annie ends up fixing the mantlepiece with tape and lifts the toolbox with ease. It’s a clever way to warm up the audience for what’s to come.
“Cornley University Drama Society” had pretty bad luck putting on shows in the past, as the director, set designer, costume designer, voice and dialect coach, prop maker, fight choreographer and lead actor, Chris Bean, goes on to tell the audience before the show.
He informs the audience of the cast’s misfortune with previous shows, stating they’ve put on variations of famous shows like “James! Where’s Your Peach?” and “Snow White and the Tall Broad Gentlemen.”
The cast’s misfortune only continues as the night progresses, with actors getting knocked unconscious and set pieces falling apart. Chris Bean, played by Chris Lanceley, is slowly losing his patience with his fellow actors and misplaced prop pieces.
Chris Bean does it all and is often the glue of the show, trying to keep everyone on track. Early on, one of the leads gets knocked unconscious by the set in Act One, and Annie, the stage manager, has to fill in with a script onstage and a hastily thrown-together costume.
As we follow the story of “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” the plot falls secondary to the hilarious cast that constantly tries to act “serious.” Their ability to not break character on stage while performing stunts and both verbal and physical comedy is very impressive.
Even by the end of the show, the entire set had fallen apart, and you can’t help but smile and laugh at the cast’s mishaps. It was a fantastic show and one that is sure to make anyone laugh for its entire run time of two hours. Bring a friend, partner or family member to New World Stages and have a blast seeing “The Play That Goes Wrong.”
