Skip to main content

Review of The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre, London

A play has to be doing something right if you go to see it three times, the third of which involves travelling to London to do so. Either its superb, or this viewer is a little weird. Fortunately we have the situation where both of those statements are correct.

The Play That Goes Wrong is nothing short of one of the funniest plays, indeed anything you could ever wish to see. Having seen it twice in Northampton in two days, the opportunity to see it in the big city and its new home (maybe for sometime to come?) at the Duchess Theatre was too much to miss.

With its new home in the capital came an added confidence from the show. If anything it felt more solid, funnier, and more polished. It certainly hadn't settled on its laurels of its huge touring success. There were a selection of added jokes, slightly bolder staging moments and a slightly increased interplay with the hysterical audience.

I have had the pleasure of seeing over 50 plays this year and there is no question that this has been the one that the audience has responded the greatest to. People of all ages have laughed as one at this show and what I have also seen is the willingness of family trips for this show. This play drifts effortlessly across the generations with its audience. I have sat in rows with mother and daughter, grandfathers and grandsons like no other I have seen.

Your dear writer also took that bold step of taking his father to see the play. He who had not been in a theatre for years (decades in fact). This is a play that has no embarrassment, no bad language (well certainly a façade of no bad language), nothing that would make you squirm as you sat next to your father, mother or granny.

The cast of ten from Mischief Theatre are nothing short of sublime. Their timing, their performances, simply everything is manna from heaven. There are no famous faces here (not yet), just a cast of unknowns who create a show that a bevy of award winners would envy in the extreme.

Tonight sees the press night for the play and there is no question that this show will get a shed load of fives stars. There is absolutely no reason that given the chance, you should see this show. In fact never mind given a chance, you need to see it. Perhaps if you have never been to the theatre ever, or for a long time, this should be the one you should see. Although I must warn you, you may have to wait for a while to see a funnier show.

Rating 5/5 - A chaotic feast of hilarious delight.

Performance reviewed: Thursday 11th September, 2014 at the Duchess Theatre, London.

For my original review of The Play That Goes Wrong click here.

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Barnum at Milton Keynes Theatre

Barnum , with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman, premiered on Broadway in 1980 and followed in the West End just a year later. At the helm for these two productions were two huge names in the entertainment business: Jim Dale on Broadway and Michael Crawford in the West End. It needed, of course, big names to fill the shoes of the legendary P. T. Barnum, whose tale is told in this now-fondly remembered musical. Filling these boots in this new production, now pitched at Milton Keynes Theatre, is Matt Rawle, a prolific theatre performer himself, but can he, and this production, live up to the iconic greatest showman? “Step right up and enter the dazzling world of P.T. Barnum, where imagination and ambition know no bounds”, the publicity for the show announces, and this new production of the now-classic Barnum - The Circus Musical mostly ticks these boxes. Rawle is a captivating and strong presence as the lead, bringing an infectious charm to the p...

Review of Lord of the Dance at Milton Keynes Theatre

On what was so far the hottest day of the year, and the highest in many a record book, it feels a tad evil to watch as a group of extremely talented performers bring to the stage one of the most famous and most energetic dance shows to tour. However, arriving now at Milton Keynes Theatre, as part of what is now the still rather immodestly titled 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour, Lord of the Dance remains full of energy even on the hottest of evenings in Milton Keynes. I last and first saw Lord of the Dance as part of the 25 Years of Standing Ovations tour, four years ago (yes, the sums don’t quite work), and it was every bit as spectacular as you could imagine this world-famous dance show is. Born into the world from Michael Flatley and the Riverdance spectacular that preceded it, Lord of the Dance is a simple but effective battle between good and evil and the resolution of it through dance rather than fighting. The dancing here is, as expected, exceptional, led by the Lord of the...

Review of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

During the interval of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband , last weeks production at The Playhouse Theatre Northampton, I got involved in a conversation between a couple sitting next to me. The lady was very much of the opinion that the play was a comedy, while the gentleman, had formed one that it was a tragedy. They were joking of course in the conversation, but it did highlight the differences that Debbie Isitt's dark comedy might have between the sexes. And also now perhaps the passing of time. When this was written in the nineties, Isitt's play was a forthright feminist play, heralding the championing over of the ladies over the man. One the ex-wife plotting to cook him, the other, the new lover, potentially already very tired of him after just three years. The husband, Kenneth (Jem Clack) elopes initially in pursuit of sex with Laura (Diane Wyman), after his nineteen years of marriage with Hilary (Corinna Leeder) has become tired and passionless. Then later, he elopes ...