You know sometimes you just kinda end up somewhere without really knowing how or why? Well, that’s around 90% of all the visits I’ve made to Covent Garden in my life and Sunday was no exception. I mean, I knew technically why we were there – going to see “The Play That Goes Wrong” – but why we were there two hours early, goodness only knows.
But luckily we are expert at killing time, whatever philosophical questions that might provoke from Reuben. So a bit of wandering around the market, a trip to Forbidden Planet and some frighteningly expensive ice cream helped to plug that gap. The ice cream was good but always beware of somewhere that doesn’t have prices visible from the outside:
We also found a shop that sold geek merch, with most of the ground floor being Harry Potter themed. Roo was thrilled to find some LOTR swords but sadly there were not for sale. Trying explaining that to the theatre bouncer when you have your bag checked.
We got to the theatre and in our seats early, which was good because there’s a bit of action before the play starts. Without giving too much away, it is worth being there 10-15 minutes beforehand as by the official start time of 3pm, quite a lot had happened….including some audience participation. That’s all I’m saying for now.
In fact, it’ll be hard to tell you too much at all without spoilers. What I can say is that Reuben complained that his face hurt from laughing so much and that if you’re a middle-aged woman with a dodgy pelvic floor, you should probably go to the toilet before it starts.
What I can tell you is that this is the self-same Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society that you might be familair with from TV shows like “Peter Pan Goes Wrong”. “A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong” and..wll…”The Gone Wrong Show”. The real-life cast might be different to the ones you see on screen (who are the Mischief originals) but the characters they play – Sandra, Max, Chris, Robert, Dennis – are all present and correct. Of course here, those characters are playing other characters but yknow, that’s the nature of “Gone Wrong” shows. It’s neatly illustrated by the programme, which has a fake Cornley programme inside the Mischief programme. Confused yet? Don’t overthink it. It is surreal though….and a credit to the cast, who I believe are brand new for 2025/2026. Without being explicitly told on stage that Tom Wainwright is playing Max playing Cecil Haversham, you know that it’s Max because of the wide grin he gives the audience whenever it’s going well. And you know that Mitesh Soni is playing Dennis playing Perkins because he has his lines written on his hand.
Incidentally, VK said something the other day about how much easier it for boys to get good parts in plays than it is for girls, even when they are not all that good at acting. I said it’s a scarcity thing – all drama societies (and choirs!) seem to be lacking in boys and men so they get pushed to the front when they do show up. And Dennis is a prime example of that. Of course, having been in plays at a girls’ school, we didn’t have that issue. Boys didn’t come into the equation. So if I had to have fake stubble put on to play a mechanical, so be it.
Anyway., that was a bit of a tangent while I was already over-explaining the play to you a bit. Let me rewind and say this – you don’t need to have watched any of the TV shows or other plays to enjoy this. You can absolutely take it at face value and you will laugh, as long as you don’t have an aversion to slapstick humour and spit-takes (any Jonathan Groff fans in the house?). Right at the end, they explain that “you’ve been watching ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ and if you didn’t realise that, you’ve probably been very confused”. So as long as you’re onboard with the basic premise of this, you can’t go far wrong. It just does add another layer to it if you’ve watched the shows and are fond of the characters.
To just describe it as slapstick is underselling the show though. It’s so cleverly scripted and so impeccably timed that everything goes wrong right on cue. I’ve seen people review the TV shows as dumbed down but they’re really the opposite, as is the live show. It’s the way that the Cornley player grimly carry on with their twee little play in the face of disaster that makes it brilliant….just think of the children in Peter Pan saying “Mother you look very pretty tonight” while trapped in collapsing bunk beds. Whether it’s drinking tumbler after tumbler of white spirit or putting out fires without the audience noticing, these actors are dedicated to their craft.
(Except of course for Chris’ occasional on-stage meltdown and rant at the audience)
And if you don’t “get” it, then what? Well, the actual play is not too bad, twee as it is, and has a bit of a twist to it which I didn’t remember from last time, so still managed to be surprised by who the murderer was. The sets are a masterpiece of stage design and there’s a dog in it. Kinda. All these things will help you get through, even if you’re one of the 300 people who thought they were actually seeing “Mamma Mia”.
However, the family and I loved it and we laughed hard from start to finish. It’s hard to explain much more without giving away the gags but I would recommend watching the TV shows first and, if you enjoy the humour, I imagine you will love it too. And if you don’t, you can always leave a negative review and they’ll probably use it as part of their marketing…
