Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 29th March 2017
One brief glance at the title, The Play That Goes Wrong, should tell you all that you need to know. The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is staging a 1920s murder mystery, and we witness a performance of that work in which everything comes apart at the seams, turning it into a farcical disaster from start to finish. If you have seen Michael Frayn's Noises Off, or, the almost identical style of anything by the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society, farces written by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr., then you have some idea of what to expect. This, similarly, is a highly skilled theatre company putting on an hilarious play, about a truly dreadful theatre company putting on a quite awful play.
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society production of The Murder at Haversham Manor is a complete, total, utter catastrophe. I am certain that the audience would wholeheartedly agree with me, and all of those involved in The Play That Goes Wrong would be extremely happy to hear that I said so. The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is the invention of playwrights, Henry Lewis, Jonathon Sayer, and Henry Shields, as is Susie H. K. Brideswell, imaginary author of The Murder at Haversham Manor. The intent is to create the impression that a real company is staging a real play, and the programme backs this up right through until the centre pages, where the people involved are finally referenced by their genuine names. The first part of the printed programme cleverly, and humorously, appears to be a legitimate programme for the Society's production.
This Mischief Theatre Company production is presented in Australia by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, Kenny Wax Ltd., and Stage Presence, in association with David Atkins Enterprises, and ABA International Touring. That is quite a mouthful but, after the accolades heaped upon the original English production, it is hardly surprising that so many people rushed to bring it to Australia.
The fun begins well before the 'director', Chris Bean (Nick Simpson-Deeks), appears to introduce the company and its production. The theatre technician, Trevor Watson (Adam Dunn), and the stage manager, Annie Twilloil (Tammy Weller), are busy with final touches to the set, as the audience enters and settles into seats, although Trevor seems to be more concerned with finding his missing collection of the music of Duran Duran. Eventually, Chris introduces himself and finally the play gets under way, or it would have done, but for a technical hitch delaying the start.
When the curtain eventually rises, we discover the body of Cecil Haversham, played by Max Bennett (James Marlowe), sprawled across the settee.
His brother, Charles Havesham, played by Jonathon Harris (Darcy Brown), his friend, Thomas Calleymore, played by Robert Grove (Luke Joslyn), whose sister, Florence Colleymore, played by Sandra Wilkinson (Brooke Satchwell),was to marry Cecil, and the manservant, Perkins, played by Dennis Tyde (George Kemp), are all shocked at the apparent suicide. It is up to Inspector Carter, played by Chris Bean (Nick Simpson-Deeks), to realise that it was murder, and solve the case.
Take note of that because, once the mayhem sets in, and the raucous laughter commences, the dialogue is often obscured, which is no great problem as the play is really about the constant flow of physical theatre. You will catch enough to keep up, and any important lines do, somehow, manage to come across.
James Marlowe was in the London cast, and is here working with the Australian cast in the same role, Max Bennett, who, in turn, plays Cecil Haversham, whose body is discovered at the very beginning, and Arthur, the gardener, in the second act. He must really love performing in this crazy production to have come to Australia to do it all again.
All of the cast members offer superb, and hilarious, individual performances but, even more importantly, this is an ensemble production relying on split-second timing and close rapport, as well as colossal trust in the other performers. It also requires each performer to break every rule in the book. There is overacting, fluffed lines, wrong props, incorrect positions on stage, and so much more. People have to take over the roles of others due to mishaps, the stage manager and theatre technician are as busy as any of the other performers and even the stage crew, Maggie, William and Lincoln (Francine Cain, Jordon Prosser, and Matthew Whitty) have a fair bit to keep them busy. What is more, the set itself is as involved as any of the actors, but that you have to see for yourself.
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