On Wednesday 26th February 2020, I went with my drama class to the Duchess Theatre in London to see the Mischief Theatre Company’s “The Play that Goes Wrong”. From the name, it is clear what happens within the play. It goes wrong. However, it proved a lot more complex than that.


The play actually had another play within it, called The Murder at Haversham Manor, created by the Cornley Drama Polytechnic Society. However, this play and this troupe were entirely fake, merely part of the production. The plot was about this fake troupe attempting to perform the mentioned play, which is a clear parody of the classic Agatha Christie production “The Mousetrap”.


 It covered much the same situation, with a rich man being murdered in his manor house the day before his wedding, leading an inspector to figure out who was responsible. Although I won’t spoil the ending for you, I will say that the play was highly effective in using slapstick, farcical and satirical comedy which is genuinely very creative at times, and not the obvious and predictable occurrences which one would normally expect from something like this.

The acting was also very good; I know from experience that it is very difficult for actors or actresses to act as somebody who is being a bad actor, something which was perfectly and effortlessly done by the cast of this overall very impressive production.

Furthermore, I found myself being amazed by the magnificent and streamlined propwork and staging which was done in such a way that it felt like the play was in fact going wrong from time to time. The most impressive of these, that being the walls and floor collapsing towards the end, were done extremely well. It also never felt like the characters were going out of their way to ruin the production. The reasons and consequences of each action felt highly justifiable, with the writers not just letting anything absurd they thought would be entertaining to happen. In fact, sometimes it was hard to tell whether or not everything went right or not!


Overall, I would highly recommend this compelling and original production which was unpredictable and hilarious in nature for anybody looking for a good laugh! I would give it 4 stars out of 5!

by Oscar Mitchell, Hampton School