The Play That Goes Wrong Review: Embracing the Mayhem
Keegan Theatre's spirited cast embraces every onstage disaster with expert comic timing and unwavering commitment.
Before it all falls fabulously apart in The Play That Goes Wrong, and every sort of onstage disaster befalls the hapless cast of the play within the play, we have to believe that these members of a local drama society truly believe in their little production that could.
Because they fight hard for it. Even as cues are missed, lines are forgotten, fixtures fall off the walls, and actors are rendered unconscious, this fictional company bands together and wills their show to go on.
That indefatigable determination and showmanship was baked into the comic soufflé by the show’s creators Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of London’s Mischief Theatre Company, and it courses through the gung-ho cast of Keegan Theatre’s new production of The Play That Goes Wrong, directed by Michael Innocenti.
This company captures the heedless resolve of the Cornley Drama Society players to soldier through opening night of the seemingly cursed whodunnit The Murder at Haversham Manor — hopefully, before the whole set caves in.
For Innocenti’s sprightly staging, the set by Keegan’s resident scenic designer and technical director Josh Sticklin is a mechanical marvel, if a bit too visibly engineered for imminent failure. Some degree of the show’s success depends on an element of surprise in how the play goes horribly wrong, and here the set’s seams and joints give away where the jokes are headed.
Still, the timing and execution of the play’s many mishaps are hysterically on-target, as is the precise choreography of the cast’s gag-a-minute slapstick, swooning, and swordplay. The needed element of surprise is supplied largely by the performances.
Jimmy Bartlebaugh, elastically funny at the physical comedy, is full of surprises as Max, the cast member hamming it up in the murder-mystery as rich heir Cecil Haversham, brother of the murder victim. As the actor portraying said murder victim, Jared H. Graham makes a great running joke of constantly turning up un-murdered elsewhere in the play.
In a fruitful gender-switch, Rebecca Ballinger is droll fun as doddering Dennis, the actor playing doddering butler Perkins in this Drama Society disaster. And Leah Packer practically exemplifies pluck as unstoppable starlet Sandra, determined not to be sidelined from her part as the murder victim’s lover, Florence.
The murder plot itself, though it occupies much of the play’s two acts, registers as an afterthought, both in the writing and in this presentation. The script dangles the possibility that we might savor the twists and turns of The Murder at Haversham Manor, while also guffawing at the ensemble’s myriad misfortunes, but the mystery here is played without much conviction.
As guided by the direction, the comedy of errors is what makes an impact, along with the emotional investment of an amateur theater troupe that utterly will not be denied. Everything that can go wrong may go wrong for the Cornley Drama Society players, but they have a show to do, and, most importantly, they have an audience, so if the ceiling crashes in, who cares? Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
The Play That Goes Wrong (★★★☆☆) runs through July 12 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $50 to $65, with discounts available for students, seniors 62+, and patrons under 25. Rush tickets available at the door, starting an hour before showtime. Visit keegantheatre.com.
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