The Play That Goes Wrong

The Cornley Drama Society attempts to stage a stiff, old-fashioned country house murder mystery, but almost nothing goes according to plan. Actors forget their lines, sets fall apart at the worst possible moments, and a corpse that is supposed to stay still keeps causing new problems, all while the cast tries gamely to keep the show moving. As one mishap compounds another, the play within the play and the very real backstage panic of its performers become impossible to separate, building to increasingly chaotic and physically demanding comic set pieces.

The Play That Goes Wrong was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields and produced by their company Mischief Theatre. It premiered in a small London pub theater in 2012 before transferring to the West End and then Broadway, becoming an unexpected long-running hit built on meticulously engineered physical comedy.

The appeal here is precision slapstick, a mystery-play set that keeps failing in new and inventive ways, and a cast whose split-second timing turns each disaster into a fresh laugh. Watch for props and set pieces that seem to have minds of their own, and actors who must improvise around problems that look genuinely dangerous. The tone stays broadly comic and family-friendly throughout, farce rather than satire. It suits families with older children, and anyone who enjoys watching a live show's seams show on purpose.