Good God I Needed That....!!!!!

I think we can all agree, after the night we had last night, and with what the country is waking up to, we need a little bit of silliness - and hopefully, I can fill in this gap, as the other day, I caught The Play That Goes Wrong as it stops off in Salford for the week.

A big hit for Mischief Theatre (which was formed in 2008 by a bunch of former LAMDA students), the show won the 2015 Olivier for Best New Comedy, with their other hits Peter Pan Goes Wrong (which was broadcast on the BBC over New Year this year and I forgot to review, sorry about that), and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery also becoming smash hits.

The play follows the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they try to put on a 1920s murder mystery, The Murder At Haversham Manor; and as the title of the play suggests, it goes wrong - badly wrong.
This is where the play shines, as it goes to town, "getting things wrong" in every possible way - set falling down, props getting misplaced, actors forgetting their lines - you name it, it is 'probably' in there. If you go to the theatre often enough, you are bound to run into a couple of mishaps (in fact, it happened in Thoroughly Modern Millie the other week), and it's brilliant in celebrating that.

I must admit though certain gags did drag, and some of them didn't pack a punch as much as others, so I didn't laugh out loud as I thought I would be doing. However, it did mean that the better gags packed that extra punch, and as a greater variety of mishaps happened at once, the funnier it became, especially in the second act.

To be honest, I am not really sure what else to say, partly because I don't want to go into too much detail in fear of giving something away. The Play That Goes Wrong is exactly what it says on the tin; a group of hilarious and perfectly-comedic-timed actors playing a fictional uni drama group trying to put on a play (within a play, har har) that goes horribly wrong; simple as that. If you like your slapstick then this is right up your street. If it is as far away from your sense of humour as a polar bear is in the desert, then I would stay away. If you're not sure, check out their 2015 Royal Variety Performance appearance on YouTube; hopefully it will help make up your mind.

And with that comes the end of that. I am off to London tomorrow to catch another gig which, like Half A Sixpence, was Olivier-nominated but didn't end winning (it seems to be a pattern at the moment). Following that, the Tony awards are happening this weekend as well, so expect both of those write-ups in the next couple of weeks =)