Currently on a 21-week national tour that runs to July, it was originally created by Mischief Theatre Company, founded in 2008 by a group of graduates of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) who began as an improvised comedy group. Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, who also appear in the show with Charlie Russell, Dave Hearn, Greg Tannahill, Nancy Wallinger and Rob Falconer, it is directed by Mark Bell.
The Play That Goes Wrong is described in press materials as a highly physical comedy packed with finely-tuned farce and Buster Keaton-inspired slapstick delivered with split-second timing.
The play introduces The "Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society," who are attempting to put on a 1920's murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong does, as the accident-prone thespians battle on against all the odds to get to their final curtain call.
It is being produced in the West End by Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence Ltd.
In a press statement Wax commented, "A few months ago a colleague of mine asked me to accompany him for a 'second opinion' to see The Play That Goes Wrong at the Trafalgar Studios. I was so excited by this courageous young group of actors that we offered them a deal on the spot. I should add that I have never been quite so impulsive before and had no idea if the regional theatres would even book the show. But I had a real desire to help this bunch of daredevil and totally committed young actors to bring their show to a wider audience and the business on the road surpassed anything that we could have imagined. Transferring the show into The Duchess is the next thrilling step on their incredible journey." Henry Lewis, Mischief Theatre artistic director also commented, "We are a grassroots theatre company in every sense and have climbed up slowly from the very bottom of the comedy theatre world - gigs behind soundproof glass in a John Lewis shop window, on the top deck of a bus and in an underground storeroom in Poland stick out as steep learning curves! The West End is an opportunity for which I am indebted to our producers who were brave enough to take us on, unknown as we are, and to the talented members of Mischief Theatre who have willingly helped simultaneously to build and climb a ladder that might have led nowhere, but wondrously led here."
To book tickets contact the box office on 0844 412 4659 or visit www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com for more details.
