Review: The Play That Goes Wrong at Theatre Royal, Nottingham

Even before official curtain up, the cast were playing it for laughs in The Play That Goes Wrong at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal and, as the curtain went down at the end, we were still laughing.

For an evening of utter silliness, this show really cannot be beaten.

The play of the title is the 1920s murder-mystery The Murder At Haversham Manor, being performed by the (fictional) Cornley Drama Society.

And, as the title suggests, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, resulting in a farce of epic proportions.

From messing up lines to missed cues, from sound mishaps to prop failures, and ­— funniest of all ­— the cast fall-outs and incredibly dodgy set ­— this production really packs it in.

Full credit goes to the immensely talented cast who somehow manage to bring all the unfolding chaos to life without injuring themselves, such is the frantic and action-packed nature of the comedy.

They were Tom Babbage (Max) Tom Bulpett (Chris) Seán Carey (Jonathan) Leonard Cook (Robert) Edward Howells (Dennis) April Hughes (Sandra) Laura Kirman (Annie) and Gabriel Paul (Trevor).

All of them absolutely ham it up, encouraging the audience to get involved.

The audience were laughing throughout ­— except for the gasps as another spectacular set failure sent a cast member to certain injury­ — and that is the seal of approval for such a great production.

The Play That Goes Wrong, which is in Nottingham until Saturday, has won numerous awards during its West End run and it is easy to see why.

It is a perfect choice of production for these times.

I don’t know if the programming at the Theatre Royal is deliberate after the misery of lockdown, but at the minute laughs and feel-good shows are in abundance ­— and I love it. ­— SH.