It was “The Murder at Havisham Manor” and this is hands down one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I literally laughed nonstop through 2 hours, laughed so hard my face hurt. I can’t recommend this enough. Things breaking on stage, people falling over, everyone trying to earnestly to deliver their lines.
I will next go see Peter Pan Goes Wrong. This was awesome!
We need to select a West End play to see in London over Thanksgiving, and it’s between “The Play that Goes Wrong” and “The Mousetrap”. We haven’t made our choice yet.
If you like this genre, there’s a great series called “The Goes Wrong Show” on various streaming platforms. It’s the same concept in smaller format.
Is there a relation to Miss Havisham from Great Expectations? The only character I remember from that book…
Definitely see “The Play That Goes Wrong”.
“The Mousetrap” is still running solely because it is still running. It is not good theatre. The audience consists only of people who want to say they’ve seen “The Mousetrap”. (Or, like me, people accompanying people who want to say they’ve seen it.). It’s not a particularly interesting play, Christie did similar things much better elsewhere, and the whole thing is very flat.
Where as TPTGW is genuinely good, original, has verve and energy and crucially attracts an audience on its merits.
Thank you, that was a stupendously helpful review.
I’m a huge fan of the tv show so I jumped at the chance to see the play. The same people are behind both.
It’s funny and well done. But it’s not quite as good as the show. Fortunately, that means that everybody can watch the even better version.
I’ve seen the play that goes wrong twice. It wasn’t quite as good the second time. I don’t know if it was because I knew the gimmicks or if it was a smaller venue so not as elaborate staging.
I still laughed a lot. But the first time I left with my sides hurting from how much I laughed.
Seeing it at the West End it should be great.
And one of my children still quotes it ” ky-ann-iddy “
I saw a local amateur production of it last fall. Enjoyable and funny, certainly. Slightly reminiscent of “Noises Off,” which is also very funny.
I dont know about the Mousetrap but I cannot recommend the Play that Goes Wrong enough. We had a really good audience, too1!
Saw a production by a local theater company in a small performance space (seating for 70 or so) last year. Seeing it in a small venue lets you appreciate the fourth wall breaks that are happening “before” the ppay starts - the actors milling around the theater, the stagehand trying to set up the backdrop, the sound guy looking for his Duran Duran box set, etc. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend.
“Perkins, pour everyone another scotch!”
There’s a big difference in that the entire Goes Wrong suite is about amateur actors who screw up a lot, whereas Noises Off is about burnt-out professional actors who just don’t give a damn anymore, but, due to several unexpected plot twists in my life, I’m at home in both worlds.
Is this some sort of version of Michael Green’s Art of Coarse Acting, which chronicled the best-worst of amateur and rep theatre?
There used to be (and maybe still are) coarse acting festivals, and different stagings of plays in that tradition.
Here’s a scene from the play as performed by the original cast at Albert Hall in 2015 - it should give you a good idea of what to expect from it. (You’ll note the one starstruck cast member who keeps staring up at the Queen’s booth.)
We saw TPTGW in the West End maybe 5 years ago, it was hilarious.
Saw it at their first Broadway venue (Lyceum) back in 2017 and it was a great time. Had no familiarity with any other show derivatives so I got to experience it tabula rasa and enjoyed it. As mentioned before part of the fun is the peripheral details involving the “crew”.
I don’t understand anymore how you quote things. But Smapti, thank you, enjoying the link now.
Highlight the words, sentence, or entire post that you want to quote. A little Quote box will appear above them. Click on Quote and the highlighted text appears in your reply box at the point where your cursor is. Right at the top normally, or after or between your words if you move your cursor there.
“I can’t believe we forgot the sardines!”
“No bag!”
There’s a shortened TV version of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, with David Suchet as the narrator. It’s available for free on YouTube