THEATRE REVIEW: The Play That Goes Wrong ★★★★★

The Play That Goes Wrong

The Duchess Theatre

15th February 2015

After watching the sequel to this production, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, last month at Birmingham REP Theatre, I knew I really wanted to watch the original version and see where it all sprouted from, so it was a delight to see that there was a Sunday Matinee that finished my time in London, and finished it with a bang, because the original felt like it had everything that the sequel provided; Fallen sets, Injured Characters, and the thing I was most excited about, was the fact that this play was set upon the Murder Mystery setting, my favourite theatre genre.

Everything you could ever expect to go wrong in a production occurred in this laugh-a-minute production, from the above, to sound cue errors and exaggerated characters, just like Peter Pan, and credit must be given to all the characters on stage for their comic and just general timing in knowing where to be at the exact time, especially for the fallen sets and injuries.

I sometimes worry when I see that an understudy is taking over from the respectable actor originally portraying that character, but I felt like Leonard Cook and Alys Metcalf worked effortlessly throughout the production in their roles as the Director and Sandra, who both in the play have very physical scenes in fights and Leonard was especially brilliant in his open monologue to the audience, which had us in stitches.

Overall then, although that I didn’t find this production as hilarious as Peter Pan, as this felt very static at times, and their wasn’t a character I felt sad for throughout, unlike Max in the sequel, I thouroughly enjoyed the plot, and the progression of each of the character's stories and hightened performances as the production ran throughout.