The Play That Goes Wrong

When a much-acclaimed farce lands in town…especially a multi award winning one with proven longevity in both The West End and on Broadway, it’s a scramble for reviewers to get to see it, even if a reviewer’s hat does somewhat deaden the hysteria.

It’s important always to separate the material from the performance in order to be fair to any production. One could be forgiven for thinking this is a collection of every old sight gag, cliché and piece of old vaudeville schtick in history - but here’s the thing. It is SUPERBLY performed by an extraordinary cast and is Entertainment with a Capital E. And there’s an entire audience who participated, yelled, cheered and stood in appreciation to back up my opinion.

Yes, we’ve seen it all before (I’ve even used most of the gags in my own productions) but never to this standard, and that’s what makes the difference.

The plot of the play within a play, The Murder At Haversham Manor, takes the very best, and worst (which are often the same thing) of Agatha Christie and injects it with steroids to the point of explosion…of laughs that is. When the play, and the set, finally disintegrate we are happy for the respite. Laughing till your stomach hurts is strenuous exercise for any audience, especially when it affects every age from 80-88 (there was an 89-year-old in the audience, but he was taken away in the interval).

It takes immense skill to take such a litany of disasters (I’m not giving any details away) and make them look spontaneous. Timing and consummate professionalism are the order of the day and even though I knew what was coming I laughed as loud as anyone. There’s also great physicality required from everyone on stage for the (literal) knockabout comedy. The pratfalls, fight sequences, and balancing acts are all superbly choreographed.

The acting style owes much to the hit book “The Art of Coarse Acting”, full of eye-rolling and mugging ( all deliberate) to denote the standard of the Cornley Drama Society, but is also influenced by the melodrama of Victorian times when actors did not turn their backs on the audience and asides were spoken from behind the back of one’s hand. This makes the play within a play even more convoluted since each of the actors plays an actor playing a role, whilst still maintaining the differences between what’s real and the play (even I have trouble explaining that one).

And so to the marvelous cast. It’s a rarity for a newcomer to totally steal scenes from more experienced actors, but that’s precisely what Sebastiano Pitruzzello does as the foppish Cecil, brother of Charles (The murder victim?!) at every entrance. His endearing physical presence and over-enthusiastic naivety create some of the show’s finest and funniest moments and he is a name to watch for the future. Joe Kosky is perhaps the actor best known to Australian audiences and he brings gravitas and belly laughs in equal measure. His onstage presence is a force to be reckoned with. He is a giant of a man so some of the physical stunts he is put through as Thomas Colleymore, brother to the heroine, are quite astounding, plus he nicely balances his performance as Robert, the actor.

The very experienced Jonathon Martin plays Chris Bean, the play’s director and also has cast himself in the important role of Inspector Carter. He plays both roles with oodles of panache and his exasperation with his cast is both hilarious and poignant. It’s a delight to encounter Stephanie Astrid John as actress Sandra Wilkinson, playing Florence Colleymore. She somehow marries elegance and style with almost grotesque slapstick, and her exit through the window provides some of the show’s biggest laughs.

Olivia Charalambous makes Annie the Stage Manager a truly credible and sympathetic character and then turns the tables as she gets a taste of applause when forced to take over the lead. It’s a delicious performance. Brodie Marsini is a corpse for most of the show but still manages to reduce us to tears of laughter, and that is no mean feat.

Eds Erimiha, as tech operator Trevor, plays mostly straight but still manages to win wild applause, especially when Trev finds his missing Duran Duran CD. Last but not least, Tom Hayward is an absolute gem as Dennis, the actor, playing Perkins the Butler. There isn’t a weakness of any kind in the cast. Of course, Kudos must go to the set, originally designed by Nigel Hook. Without it, everything that goes wrong would probably go right…and that would be a tragedy when we really need all the laughs we can get.  Michael Frayn’s play Noises Off is a far superior piece of writing, but not in the same league as entertainment. This is unmissable comedy.

Coral Drouyn

Photographer: Jordan Munns