Review: CHRISTMAS CAROL GOES WRONG, King's Theatre

While a production of A Christmas Carol feels a bit wrong in late February, this isn’t your typical version of the Dickens classic. Presented by unstoppable powerhouse team Mischief Comedy, Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is the latest of their chaotic creations.

It’s coming up to the festive period, and Cornley Drama Society are casting for their upcoming production. Director Chris Bean (Daniel Fraser) is keen to land himself the lead role, and the competition isn’t exactly fierce. The setup and audition process brings a lot of laughs as there are callbacks to previous Mischief productions and various disasters. 

Jonathan Sayer is particularly great as Dennis, playing Bob Cratchitt. There’s a misunderstanding about what the original version of A Christmas Carol is and there are some brilliant Muppet mixups. Poor Dennis isn’t the best at memorising lines, so his prompts are dotted around the set, and there’s much hilarity when read in the wrong order. 

Some of the setups you can see coming, but it doesn’t make it any less shocking or hilarious when things do, in fact, go wrong. While these productions typically do follow a similar formula, they never grow tired and the laughs are consistent for the two-hour run time.  

Mischief have struck the perfect balance between physical slapstick comedy and comedy dialogue. Their timing is brilliant and every single gag in the script lands. There are mishaps with the set design, wardrobe malfunctions, missed cues and cast infighting. 

This is a fantastic twist on a festive show as we’re given a glimpse behind the curtain of this beloved fictional am dram company and the format means it works well year-round. 

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