Interview: 'It's A Dream Come True': Matt DiCarlo On Directing Mischief On Both Sides Of the Atlantic And Returning To THE COMEDY ABOUT SPIES In London

After a successful run at the Noël Coward last year, Mischief Theatre’s The Comedy About Spies has returned to the West End for a limited run until September, this time at the Adelphi Theatre. Recently, we had the chance to speak with the director, Matt DiCarlo, about restaging The Comedy About Spies. We discussed how he first became involved with Mischief Theatre, what it’s been like directing The Play That Goes Wrong in both London and New York City and how both he and the cast have been looking at The Comedy About Spies with a fresh perspective.

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What made you want to be a part of Mischief Theatre?

I got asked to be a part of the original Broadway production of The Play That Goes Wrong. I was the Production Stage Manager and the Associate Director. That was my first experience with Mischief. Once I got offered the job, I came over to London and learned the show here for a few weeks. What has become such a huge part of my life and my career, and I was a fan of theirs from afar! I had seen footage of them on the Royal Variety Show. I’d seen clips of The Play That Goes Wrong online. I had seen the telecast of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and I was so impressed with how they managed to make an art form of comedy feel so fresh and new and alive. It was just really cool to get to watch them do the thing that made them famous, The Play That Goes Wrong, and to work with them on that, to learn it right from them. I feel really grateful for that.

And now you're bringing back The Comedy About Spies after its run on the West End last year. What was it like bringing an original Mischief show to the West End?

Oh my gosh, it's such a dream come true! Not only was it my first time directing something from the beginning for and with Mischief, but it was my first time directing a commercial show of my own.

Getting to make The Comedy About Spies was the greatest gift, the biggest challenge, and probably some of the most fun I've ever had. I felt so much pressure - in a good way - to make sure that I was doing everything I could to support the incredible work that Mischief does. And also, to put my stamp on it and make something that felt unique, that felt different than stuff that Mischief has done in the past. The thing I love about The Comedy About Spies is that it's not Spies Goes Wrong. It's a play that stands on its own. It's not set with the Cornley characters that people know so well and love so much from The Play That Goes Wrong. It brings something completely unique and new, and it is unbelievably funny and a really great play. It was really fun to dig into it!

And then you went straight from that to Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. What was it like making that transition?

It's funny. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to direct a Mischief show of my own, let alone two in the same year! If I had to guess, I always thought that I would have directed a Goes Wrong first. In hindsight, I'm really glad I didn't. Going from one right into the other was great, because the creative juices with the people I was with just kept flowing. By that time, a lot of the original company was in both shows, so there was a rapport and a trust that we had spent most of the year making things together.

I was telling Nancy Zamit the other day that you just feel so lucky to be part of something like a Goes Wrong. People will talk about those shows forever, and the work that Mischief has done to infiltrate the global theatre scene. So I feel really blessed to get to do one that hopefully comes around every Christmas!

So you're directing these shows in the West End. What is it like as an American director working in the UK theatre scene?

It's informative, and I love it! I want to make more work here. I love London. I've fallen in love with the city. There is a really smart approach to theatre-making. I've become so acutely aware of how much more affordable it is to make theatre here, and how much that informs the creative process. And certainly, developing both of these shows, the system here has allowed us to feel like, even though it was a quick process, we had the tools we needed to make the show the best it could be. I know that's because of how resources get allocated, and I'm really grateful for that.

I'm always impressed with the calibre of artists here in London. I've spent, for the last couple years, half the year here, and I hope that continues. I just love working here, and I love knowing how different and how similar theatre works in these two major cities.

On the topic of the two cities, you recently started as the director of the West End version of The Play That Goes Wrong with the current cast, along with continuing your work with the show off-Broadway. What is it like working on the same show in two different countries?

I love it! I've had some training, because as the International Associate Director at Moulin Rouge!, I have worked with companies all over the world: London, New York, the North American tour, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands - and we're getting ready for Spain and Korea. I've had the experience of seeing the same show on different continents in different languages, working with different styles of creative teams, and seeing so many actors interpret the role.

Of course, getting to work on the flagship production of The Play That Goes Wrong in London had a very specific weight for me. It's where it all began! The Duchess is sacred space for The Play That Goes Wrong, and I really loved getting to work with the company that's in the show now - I'm really impressed by them.

What have you noticed when working with and watching Moulin Rouge! and The Play That Goes Wrong in different countries? I know that I’ve noticed different creative aspects and audience reactions in the U.S. versus the U.K., specifically for Mischief and the Goes Wrong style of comedy.

So there are some things I think about the writing and the approach to the comedy in The Play That Goes Wrong that are inherently British - more so in Peter Pan and definitely in Christmas Carol, but some of it's embedded in The Play That Goes Wrong. There are elements of panto and farce and all the things that British audiences have grown up with that you can feel, as an audience, they respond to very quickly.

In America, that's a little less part of our theatrical vernacular, so that plays a part. And sometimes how the audience responds - they love it at New World Stages! I am always so pleased to be there and hear 350 people laughing at the show. Of course, we have some words and phrases that are different in America because we wouldn't understand them if we kept them the same. “White spirit” in London is called “paint thinner” in The Play That Goes Wrong off-Broadway.

The thing about The Play That Goes Wrong that I always loved in America is that you can see kids, senior citizens and everything in between loving it, and the same is true with the Duchess here in London. And it's just such a universal thing - you could be nine or 99 and have the best time.

What is it like to direct something that already had an original director, like The Play That Goes Wrong, versus something like The Comedy About Spies that's more your own directing take on it? 

It's a really unique skill to be able to recreate something and make it feel fresh and alive. That means getting inside of it, understanding it backwards and forwards, being able to find new ways into it all of the time. Making something new, like The Comedy About Spies, or I’m directing a musical in LA later this this summer called Jawbreaker, that is a very different process. Rather than learning something and getting deeply inside of it, the creation process is very different when you're starting from nothing - you have a different kind of ownership over it. But when I'm recreating something like The Play That Goes Wrong or Moulin Rouge!, I care so much about upholding the foundation and the principles of the original that I find a way to make it feel as personal to me as making something new.

Do you have a favourite character from The Comedy About Spies?

I just got asked the other day who I would play if I was in it! I am like a huge [Albert] Tipton fan. Greg Tannahill plays the role, and I think he has some of the best material in the show. He gets such a huge payoff at the end, and he has one of my favourite jokes in the show. You'll have to see it to hear it!

What do you hope audiences take away from The Comedy About Spies?

I hope that one, they laugh a lot. Two, I think people often undersell how hard it is to make and do comedy, and I hope The Comedy About Spies is a reminder of how sophisticated the art form is. Whether it's the most highbrow or lowbrow comedy, there's a real science to making it and a real art to doing it. And I hope that The Comedy About Spies reminds people of that. 

Read our review of The Comedy About Spies at the Adelphi Theatre here.

The Comedy About Spies runs until 26 September at the Adelphi Theatre. 

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