Review: The Play That Goes Wrong

(Image courtesy of Tarini Tiwari)

19th August 2021

By Tarini Tiwari

On July 14, I attended The Play That Goes Wrong at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. It felt like a novelty to be sitting in the audience at a play for the first time since last March. My excitement appeared to be shared by many, as the theatre was as full as it could be while adhering to social-distancing guidelines.

The format of the play, for those who haven’t heard of it, is a sort of play-within-a-play scenario. We as an audience are watching actors play fake actors. These fake actors are putting on a play where things repeatedly go wrong, hence the title.

All the mistakes are carefully rehearsed for our enjoyment. The premise of this performance was an Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery, titled The Murder at Haversham Manor.

The actors relied quite heavily on their physicality throughout the performance, as the fake actors are clearly meant to not be very good. Therefore, we saw lots of intentional over-acting, smiling and waving to the audience and also plenty of physical mishaps, be them trips, collisions or being dropped from a stretcher.

This was incredibly well-choreographed and had the audience laughing hysterically, although there were times where it bordered on overly slapstick, where it was too obvious that somebody was going to get hurt.

This was remedied by a great ad-libbed monologue by the ‘fake’ actor playing the inspector after an audience member heckled him, pantomime-style. His angered monologue that his serious murder mystery wasn’t going according to plan helped balance out all the carefully scripted physical comedy, and breathed life back into the performance.

This piece incorporated an interesting element into the things that could possibly go wrong, through the ‘fake’ actress damsel in distress getting injured and needing to be quickly replaced. With some of the actors playing clueless crew members, a new level of dimension to a well-known format was added, for as they bumbled through the script and missed cues, the story became hilariously impossible to follow.

(Image courtesy of Tarini Tiwari)

The most incredible aspect of the performance, undoubtedly, was the set design. Things were constantly falling apart on cue, whether it was the mantlepiece crashing to the ground or the entire mezzanine floor sinking while two actors stood on it, the props sliding across the floor as they grasp for them desperately.

It looked so haphazard, succeeding in appearing to be a terrible mistake, but was clearly choreographed with a level of precision that I could not begin to comprehend. However, my love for the set design went beyond just what went wrong.

There were small details, such as fake tree branches behind the windows to make us feel like we’re in an upstairs room, or, through the gap in the elevator doors, a thin light travelling up or down to signify the elevator actually going up to the mezzanine.

These aspects of the design were vital in making us feel like we were actually watching a murder mystery that went wrong, because they weren’t there as part of a gag. They were there to convince us of the situation, and they succeeded.

The play was a resounding success, and I would highly recommend attending if you’re looking for a good time. It certainly isn’t an intellectual piece, but I think if you’re new to theatre it’s a fantastic introduction, coupling incredible scripting and set work with easy laughs.

The cast thanked the audience for choosing to return to the theatre after the pandemic, and I can’t think of a better play to bring you back than ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’.

Having now finished at The Marlowe Theatre, this performance has embarked on its UK tour, heading to areas such as Bath and Nottingham through August, finishing in November in Edinburgh. If you get the opportunity to view this play, let us know on our socials and in the comments below!