Darlington Hippodrome – until 10 March 2018
5*****
In a triumphant return to Darlington and the newly refurbished Hippodrome, The Play That Goes Wrong does exactly what it says on the tin – with hilarious results.
The premise is rather simple: fictitious amateur theatre company, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, is presenting 1920s murder mystery The Murder at Haversham Manor.
They’ve recently had some troubles with budgeting and cast sizes, which have taken their toll on recent productions such as Chekhov’s Two Sisters, The Lion and the Wardrobe, and Cat.
But with a lavish and intricate set, things seem to have fallen into place for their newest production. That is, until things fall very, very quickly out of place.
“The Murder at Haversham Manor.” That play within “The Play” is a twisty thriller with all of the usual ingredients — a corpse, a sniffy detective, friends, relatives and servants who are suspects. Standard stuff.
The curtain rises and things go awry… and it’s downhill from there. Props attack, lines are fluffed, actors break character or get whacked by scenery but most of the problems come from the set, which falls apart in some magical and apparently dangerous ways, necessitating fast adjustments from the Cornley players to get through. The problem is that they’re not the brightest or most experienced group of thespians, so their solutions to the mounting problems simply result in greater problems.
Having seen the show before – the first time in a room above a pub with the cast outnumbering the audience – I really knew what was coming and yet it had lost none of its hilarity and shock tactics. I felt exactly the same; less than one minute in, roaring with laughter! In a way, anticipating the calamitous antics, made it even funnier because I was laughing in advance!
Bobby Hirston as Max, an easily embarrassed enthusiast, is perfectly ‘miscast’ as Cecil Haversham, the brother supposedly having a passionate affair but who can’t bear to be touched. Benjamin McMahon slips effortlessly in and out of character as Dennis, the one who failed at everything else so thought he would try drama. Elena Valentine plays seasoned am-dram actress Sandra, who relishes every chance to strike a pose, forgetting that Florence Colleymoore is supposedly grieving for a dead fiancé. Kazeem Tosin Amore is completely unflappable as Robert and makes getting it wrong look so right, and Jake Curran as Chris, Head of the Drama Society, director of the production and, inevitably, in the lead rôle of Inspector Carter, times a steady fall into hysteria perfectly while always clawing back a semblance of control of the chaos that surrounds him.
Techies (played perfectly by actual actors, including Gabriel Paul’s Trevor and Catherine Dryden’s Annie who has to take over when Sandra is knocked unconscious) are let loose among us at the incoming and the interval, while on stage we watch a relentless succession of slapstick and sight gags, performed with precision timing and real relish by an excellent ensemble.
Of course, it is down to the skill of all eight performers that you gets to laugh out loud at everything that can possibly go wrong. The pace is fast and the script (by original cast members and founders of Mischief Theatre Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields) is tailored cleverly to each new disaster. Every facet of this production is beautifully detailed, even down to two sets of photos and biographies in the programme, which are definitely worth a read.
This was the perfect antedote the horrendous weather of the last few days – who can’t fail to be warmed whilst enjoying such comedy genius? Catch this show on tour or in the West End. In Darlington until Saturday 10 March and back in the North East again at Newcastle Theatre Royal 2 to 7 July and Billingham 17 to 22 September