Reviews: The Play that Goes Wrong HS Edition at Wakefield School
Written by Erin Allen of Bishop Ireton High School
From the theatre that brought you "Two Sisters", "The Lion and the Wardrobe", "Cat", and "James, Where's Your Peach?", the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is proud to present "The Murder at Haversham Manor": a thrilling production full of high stakes, twists and turns and... falling set pieces, missed cues, unexpected understudies, and a plethora of theatrical disasters. Watch your heads, ladies and gentlemen, and enjoy "The Play that Goes Wrong (High School Edition)", presented in its full chaotic delight by Wakefield School.
"The Play that Goes Wrong" was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre, a British comedy group. The original production has been playing in London since 2012, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2015. Since then, the show has embarked on several UK tours and transferred to Broadway in 2017. It is currently playing off-Broadway at the New World Stages.
A meta--theatrical farce, "The Play that Goes Wrong" centers around the Cornley Drama Society's dysfunctional production of "The Murder at Haversham Manor", an Agatha Christie-style mystery. The disastrous performance includes a series of increasingly chaotic theatre mishaps -- from wrong lines and props breaking, to actors fighting over a role and the entire set collapsing -- sending the company spiraling downward from start to finish.
Leading the company, Landon Nilson superbly embodied perfectionism and frustration as director Chris Bean (playing "Inspector Carter"). Through gritted teeth, straight posture, and an increasingly short temper as the performance fell apart, Nilson created a hilarious contrast between Bean's uptightness and the company's clumsiness. As opposed to Nilson's comical stiffness, Patrick Reidway was a master of slapstick as extravagant actor Max Bennett (playing "Cecil Haversham" and "Arthur the Gardener"). Reidway drew roaring laughter from the audience with elaborate gesture routines that sent Cecil and Arthur flailing across the stage. Every wink, wave, and overexaggerated step -- as seen in Max Bennett's proneness to dramatically trip over furniture -- made Reidway's performance a highlight of the show.
Sydney White and Avery Messick displayed superb character work and physical comedy as Sandra Wilkinson (playing "Florence") and Annie (a stagehand--turned--actor), respectively. White played Wilkinson's Florence with charmingly cartoonish mannerisms and vocal inflections of a 1920s flapper, while Messick embodied Annie's journey from awkward and exasperated stagehand to confident understudy when forced to assume an injured Wilkinson's role, using expressive faces at every moment. The two divas go head--to--head in Act II as they fight over the role of Florence, culminating in a catfight that earned laughs for every dramatic scream and punch from White and Messick.
"The Play that Goes Wrong" requires a complex set with sticking doors, falling paintings, and walls that completely collapse, all occurring during precise moments throughout the show. This task was perfectly executed by Sophie Sehring, who used elegant 1920s wallpaper and dressings to make the room appear sturdy, yet still able to fall apart when necessary. This carefully constructed piece elevated the show's humor, containing every nuance needed to throw Cornley's production off the rails. Also of great detail were the costumes, designed by Gianna Pieracci and Cora Lanham. This versatile team constructed everything from crisp blazers and a flapper dress to stage crew shirts fitting in with the lore of the Cornley's past shows. The costumes drew a comedic contrast between the glamorous 1920s production onstage and the modern happenings behind the scenes.
Ultimately, Wakefield School's "The Play that Goes Wrong (High School Edition)" proved that even as the walls cave in (literally), if the show goes on, even the most wrong things will always go right.
Written by Alison Nienaber of Bishop Ireton High School
Featuring slapstick humor, a murder mystery, and many ups and downs, this weekend's production of The Play That Goes Wrong certainly went right for Wakefield School!
A play-within-a-play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company. The show premiered in London in 2012, before transferring to the West End in 2014, where it won the Oliver Award for Best New Comedy. It has seen several more runs, including on-Broadway from 2017 to 2019, before continuing off-Broadway, where it runs currently.
The story follows Cornely Drama Society, a small British theatre troupe, as they attempt to perform The Murder at Haversham Manor, a 1920s-style whodunit mystery. However, the show by no means goes off smoothly, as the set and actors increasingly fall apart throughout the performance. Each character has their own bit, from the butler not knowing how to pronounce his lines, to the stage manager being pressed into service to go on for the unconscious leading lady. By the time the murderer is revealed, all the walls on the set have fallen, the tech guy is both asleep and bleeding on the stage, and the director, who plays the inspector, is crying in the corner.
Landon Nilson's performance of Chris Bean as Inspector Carter was delightful. Nilson was incredibly engaging throughout Chris Bean's long monologues at the top of each act with his dry humor and deadpan delivery. Nilson excellently demonstrated the character's slow descent into despair throughout the performance, especially with the juxtaposition of cheery British delivery in Inspector Carter's lines and a harsher snarl when Chris Bean was correcting and directing others onstage.
Meanwhile, Patrick Reidway delivered Max Bennett as Cecil Haversham/Arthur the Gardener with a completely different but no less effective comedic style. Reidway captured the excited first-time actor's obsession with audience validation through the increasingly physical deliveries of his lines. Reidway's ability to make clear Max Bennett's underlying personality in both of his character's roles led to a hilarious display of hyperbolic deliveries and exaggerated facial expressions.
Throughout the show, Chase Roberts as the lighting/sound operator Trevor Watson had great in-character bits, reacting to the mishaps onstage, stacking soda cans, and smugly taking the longest amount of time possible ringing a gong to represent the sound of the clock. Later in the show, when Trevor must read the lines for the leading lady, Roberts's sarcastic 'tech guy' performance contrasted with his 'actor' co-stars to create an incredibly amusing scene dynamic.
A large part of the 'going wrong' element of the story is the collapse of the set dressing and then the set itself. The lead set designer Sophie Sehring worked to make this effective by covering the set in an elegant dark green wallpaper so it would appear sturdier and more durable than it is in actuality. Sehring also designed the room with an old English parlor in mind, which fits the period of the whodunit and adapts from the sets of previous iterations of the play.
The show was underscored by original pieces from student Zachary Laing, who acted as composer, producer, and musician. Laing recorded a 17-minute jazz song and a 10-second murder mystery theme for the performance. Laing was also innovative in using a water bottle to create record-popping sound effects, giving the music a true 1920s feel. The pieces worked brilliantly to build the world of the show.
Wakefield School's performance of The Play That Goes Wrong was a staunch delivery of a show famous for its misfortune. The cast and crew worked to create a realistic depiction of the cult classic.