The Play That Goes Wrong

the worldwide phenomenon

Scripted by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play that Goes Wrong is an uproarious hour of slapstick humour, blubbered mispronunciations and perfectly timed sight gags, revolving around an amateur theatre production that's seemingly doomed to failure despite (or maybe because of) the cast's best efforts.

The show originally landed in London at Trafalgar Studio 2, where it was heralded by Telegraph theatre critic Charles Spencer as the funniest thing he'd seen since Noises Off. Those responsible, Mischief Theatre (formerly known as The Scat Pack), are a comedy theatre company first formed in 2008 by a group of graduates and students of The London Academy of Music & Art. Since their debut work in 2008, these talented imps have staged productions all over the UK and now dominate the West End with their bonkers productions.

What's The Play That Goes Wrong About?

After benefiting from a large and sudden inheritance, the inept and accident-prone Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempt to put on a 1920s murder mystery play in the West End. But as the hopeless thesps discover to their horror, everything that could go pear-shaped, does, with hilarious consequences. Corpses that can't lie still, props which disappear and reappear at the wrong time and a set that is literally falling apart will all ring true to any amateur performers out there (although hopefully, not quite to this degree). Couple all this with a Butler whose talent for garbling simple phrases is rivalled only by Fawlty Towers' Manuel and you have a production which probably won't be up for any Olivier Awards anytime soon...

More Mischief:

The Comedy About a Bank Robbery
Magic Goes Wrong