Review: THE PLAY THAT WENT WRONG at The White Theatre

Producing The Play That Goes Wrong at a community-theater level is an act of courage.  And the Silver Star with two oak leaf enhancements goes to the White Theatre inside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park.  Seldom before have I seen such an active sold-out crowd in this venue who evidently got exactly what they were looking for with this wacky production. 

This cast was rewarded with an extended standing ovation. I shall recognize the rest of the cast later but here is a special shout out to the actor who plays Jonathon (Reed Uthe) who doesn’t say a word until well into Act II.  He is the supposed corpse and a very funny man.  

“The Play That Goes Wrong” is pretty bulletproof for an audience if the people behind the scenes do their job in assuring everybody knows where to stand and nobody gets hurt.  Extremely important to bringing this show off is the Director David Martin and Sarah Bezek who is listed as choreographer but might more properly be called the stunt coordinator.

Sets at The White Theatre are usually exceptional but in “The Play That Goes Wrong” the set is the eleventh character in the show. It is the source of multiple sight gags and multiple appropriate strategic collapses without which this show doesn’t work. The scenic design is by Jeremy Smith.  The set is so important that all the folks who built it deserve to be recognized.

White Theatre employs a Master Carpenter in the person of Michael Hadley and Technical Director Justin Dudzik Smalley.  Scenic Carpenters are Seth Sneary, Jackie Valle, Sarah Bezek, Nathan Thomas, Clara Heiken, Connor Dudzik-Smalley, John Rohr, Ahmet Kodanaz, Kelsi Richardson, Mer Riegg, and Zane Champie. The scenic artists are Justin Dudzik-Smalley, and Ashlley Ozment.

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of the inventive British troupe Mischief Theatre, the play is a loving parody of earnest amateur dramatics. Ironically, it requires performers who are anything but amateurish.

The show presents itself as a production mounted by the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, performing a drawing-room mystery titled The Murder at Haversham Manor. Styled after the genteel British mysteries associated with writers like Agatha Christie, the story begins with all the trappings of a classic whodunit: a dead aristocrat, suspicious houseguests, and a determined inspector.  But within minutes, the wheels begin to fall off.

A door sticks. A prop disappears. An actor forgets his line. And from there, the production spirals into an avalanche of theatrical catastrophes. The mechanics of these mishaps can be difficult to achieve. Yet this company manages the trick with surprising polish.

The play demands split-second timing, fearless physical comedy, and a set that appears to collapse on cue—while remaining safe and precisely engineered. Happily, the current local production rises impressively to the challenge, delivering an evening of gleeful theatrical mayhem that proves high-level community theater can rival professional companies for sheer comic energy.

The success of The Play That Goes Wrong ultimately rests on the actors’ willingness to embrace humiliation in the name of comedy. Characters are knocked unconscious, pinned under furniture, or forced to improvise wildly when the play’s fictional script collapses around them. This cast throws itself wholeheartedly into this chaos and actually survive the experience.

Chris, the headperson of this deliberately ill-prepared fictional theater group and the inspector is Heather Ives.  The performer portraying Robert, the fictional company’s leading man, who gamely absorbs repeated blows from falling scenery is Christoph Cording. The actress playing Sandra, the ingénue, is Keri Baggs.  She delivers on escalating panic as she struggles with her lines before being knocked cold and is dragged through a window. Remaining cast members are Jason Ships, Sam Walhof, and Meghann Deveroux, and DJ Davis all do their parts.

Farce lives or dies on timing, and this production demonstrates careful rehearsal. This farce owes a great debt to the British Musical Hall tradition and American Vaudeville. The performers handle pratfalls and near misses with a discipline reminiscent of classic silent film physical comedians like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. From the very opening pre-show chaos—to the spectacular finale, the crowd reacts with delighted disbelief at each new disaster.

Part of the reason this tickles my funny bone is that a lot of what happens in this inspired craziness has happened by accident in a real actor’s experience.  Many theatergoers have seen productions where something genuinely did go wrong: a forgotten line, a missing prop, a wobbly set piece. This play magnifies those familiar mishaps into operatic catastrophes, creating a shared joke between performers and audience.

This production delivers exactly what the play promises: escalating comic disaster executed with infectious enthusiasm. The cast’s fearless commitment and the technical crew’s clever stagecraft combine to create an evening of laughter that feels both professional and warmly local.

“The Play That Goes Wrong” continues at the White Theatre through March 29. Tickets are available online at www.thejkc.org/white-theatre/.