THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG

I first became aware of Mischief Theatre in 2013 when 1 saw & loved “The Play That Goes Wrong”last August. We laughed so loud and so long it was an obvious winner of DARKCHAT’s Best Shows award.

We therefore duly headed to Pleasance in Islington in December to see their follow-up “Peter Pan That Goes Wrong”. This, again, was enjoyable but I felt it occasionally struggled to sustain the full ninety minutes.

Although I was delighted to see that it had deservedly been granted a national tour I was apprehensive that it would be not be as tight as the hour long show. I therefore  didn’t book any tickets but was delighted when some friends had 2 spare tickets in the front row.

This is one of those shows that starts before the curtain rises with members of the backstage crew wandering amongst the audience and one unsuspecting member being ushered on stage to assist in various tasks.

The first half is basically the Edinburgh show. Co writer Henry Shields sets the scene of the potential shambles to follow with a highly enjoyable monologue as Cornley Polytechnic embarks upon ;”The Murder at Haversham Manor”.

We are now in true Amateur Dramatics territory. A clanky company puts on a clanky murder mystery and as you can guess from the title anything that can go wrong doe go wrong. I do think it helps if you have an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in these companies. Having been involved in them myself I am fully aware of the potential pitfalls of dodgy props, dodgy actors, missed sound cues, missed lines etc.

This all sounds like genuine farce territory but in the capable hands of Mischief Theatre it became an art form. Belly laugh follows belly laugh and there is something comforting about knowing what is about to happen and hearing roars of approval from the audience behind.

By the time we reached the interval my chest was aching from having laughed so much and I wonder where we would go from here. I needn’t have worried as the insertion of a missing dog and a set on two levels ensured there would be no let up in the humour.

There is no point trying to list all the great jokes and set-pieces but my favourite is a ninety minute set-up for a 3 second music joke. I loved this show the first time I saw it but amazingly I enjoyed it more the second time and this time I have to say it is arguably the funniest show I have ever seen. There can be no higher praise than this.

If you missed it in Cardiff but have the chance to catch it omn tour don’t miss it. You will regret it forever.