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 Murder She Didn't Write at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Murder She Didn't Write , stopping off for a four-day run at Royal & Derngate on a lengthy UK tour, treads the now well-worn path of an improvisational evening of theatre entertainment. Unsurprisingly, from the title, this show from Degrees of Error's takes a murder mystery as its inspiration, with the story influenced by ideas from the audience each evening. Due to this, Murder She Didn't Write and a review are very much an individual affair. What I saw in my evening at the theatre will differ significantly from what the audience will see the following evening; however, the fine performers will remain. The touring cast, in no particular order, is Lizzy Skrzypiec, Rachael Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements, Douglas Walker, Harry Allmark, Rosalind Beeson, Sylvia Bishop, Emily Brady, Alice Lamb, Sara Garrard, Peta Maurice and Matthew Whittle. For my performance, Skrzypiec, Procter-Lane, Baker, Walker, Bishop, and Clements were on stage alongsid...

Review of The Rocky Horror Show at Milton Keynes Theatre

Richard O’Brien’s anarchic, surreal, and often incomprehensible musical, The Rocky Horror Show , has captivated audiences for over fifty years now. With this new tour, it feels as fresh and unpredictable as if it had just emerged from O’Brien's vivid imagination yesterday. While another review might seem unnecessary given the countless dressed-up fans who fill every theatre it visits, let’s go ahead and write one anyway. The Rocky Horror Show follows the adventures of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple. On a dark and stormy November evening, they run into car trouble and seek refuge at a mysterious castle reminiscent of Frankenstein’s. There, they encounter the eccentric handyman Riff-Raff, the outrageous scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter, and a host of other bizarre characters. What unfolds is a science fiction B-movie narrative that is at times coherent and at other times bewildering — yet somehow, that doesn’t seem to matter. I first saw The Rocky Horror Show in 2019 and exper...

Review of War Horse at Milton Keynes Theatre

Michael Morpurgo's novel War Horse was published in 1982. While it was highly regarded and thought to be his best work, perhaps it eventually came to most people's attention when this striking play stormed the stage, thanks to the National Theatre, back in 2007. Now, War Horse arrives at Milton Keynes Theatre as part of another vast UK tour. Adapted by Nick Stafford in association with the award-winning Handspring Puppet Company, War Horse tells the story of the First World War through the eyes of one horse, Joey, sold for a record price from a family battle but eventually shipped off to war-torn France much to the distress of his original owner, 16-year old Albert. The sprawling and epic story should take some staging, but the vast cast, beautiful structure, stunning folk music and, of course, what this play has become known for, magnificent puppetry, all bring the story to life. This production, directed by Tom Morris and revival director Katie Henry, is a magnificent thin...