“Mischief, mayhem and murder at the Opera House… Run, don’t walk to the box office”
Kate Stratford
5 Comedy Gold Awards
Venue: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Dates: Until 3rd August.
Mischief, mayhem and murder at the Opera House. Or at Haversham Manor, really, as the cast and crew of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society brave the horrors of what can go wrong on opening night, where everything that could go wrong, does. The scenery collapses, cues are missed, lines forgotten, props don’t work as the company present their ambitious evening’s entertainment with the cunning whodunit, The Murder At Haversham Manor.
Mischief Theatre Company’s The Play That Goes Wrong is the sort of play to which you bring your non-theatre friends so they will be converted to live performance. And on the other side, if you came up through the school of amateur / community theatre, you bring your theatre buddies and relive the horrors of set doors which won’t open, of actors stuck in dialogue loops, misplaced props and inattentive bio-box crew who get lighting and sound cues wrong. So it is bound to be a brilliant night out either way.
Mischief Theatre has been running amok since 2008, when Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art roped in mates Dave Hearn, Nancy Zamit, Bryony Corrigan, and Niall Ransome, from the same course to put together some improv which eventually they took to the Edinburgh Fringe. From there, the rest, as they say in the classics, is history. A history that includes a slew of awards and subsequent productions of other plays that go wrong. It is now the longest running West End comedy. I confess to having seen The Bank Robbery That Goes Wrong so had a pretty good idea of what the night had in store for me.
With success has come even more dedication to getting it right. The performances are highly choreographed, including stage combat, stunts, and staged technical malfunctions. The control of physicality is beyond impressive. This is Cirque level skill. There is a trust contract entered into with the audience with this sort of work. Mischief Theatre company have to inherently promise that they and the audience are safe so the audience are able to fully engage without fear of a real disaster happening. We can safely laugh (and you will until the tears run) without concern that the cast have genuinely been injured. This is true mastery of slapstick and clowning and Charlie Chaplin would have been proud.
The play within the play format here is a mashup of The Mousetrap and The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society series, however Mischief take this genre to a whole other level. One imagines the burden of legacy. There are no stars here – it is completely ensemble but each character evolves in the play’s journey. Herein lies the challenge, not only do your physical skills have to be par excellence, you have to show a character’s evolution. Annie, the Stage Manager (Olivia Charalambous) is unexpectedly cast into the spotlight as Florence, starting with a book-in-hand but as the show unfolds, Annie discovers a love for acting which surpasses common-sense. Charalambous is a delightful portrayal of Annie’s shift from backstage diligence to a fierce dedication to performance. Edmund (Eds) Eramiha is Trevor, the lighting and sound operator for the play, who unexpectedly finds himself in the spotlight due to the on-stage disasters. Just fine behind the scenes, he’s suddenly required to act, briefly taking on the role of Florence which he does with authenticity and humour. Dennis (Tom Hayward) is Perkins the butler in the play. In theatre we know the Dennis – es. They come to acting, struggling with lines and pronunciation and a desire for perfection and connection, despite being slightly oblivious to the unpredictable theatrical world around them.
Sebastiano Pitruzzello is Max, stepping into his first roles as Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardener. As the honest and earnest Max, Pitruzzello is most charming, especially when he directly engages the audience after eliciting laughter, breaking the fourth wall and corpsing. The core of the play is Chris, the director and Inspector Carter in “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” Jonathan Martin holds the centre as a perfectionist doggedly enduring pressure whose resolve cracks under audience laughter and play chaos. The despair is visceral, and the confrontation with the audience has delicious Basil Fawlty undertones.
There is a sort of Laurence Olivier-esque ambition to the optimistic Robert as Thomas Colleymoore; Joe Kosky meets this demanding role with earnestness and optimism, most laudable especially when the elevated floor underneath him collapses and he has to physically hold a set together. The debonair Jonathan (Brodie Masini) exudes the all charisma of a 1940s/50’s Hollywood hero; and the sustained joke of his moving corpse only adds to the chaos. And then there is Sandra, as Florence Colleymoore. Stephanie Astrid John combines Sandra’s ambition with vanity and her own immaculate physicality, to give us a character who has an unwavering belief in her own talent but little ability to deal with change.
It takes a lot of talent, precision, experience and commitment to make all the wrong go right. Run, don’t walk to the box office. You are going to re-live this for years and have excellent dinner table small talk contribution.
photos: Robert Day
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
