Review: The Play That Goes Wrong, Theatre Royal Bath

The Play That Goes Wrong is the acme of ‘it does exactly what it says on the tin’ naming. The entire evening comprises a staging of an amateur dramatics production in which everything goes horribly wrong. That’s it.

This is not a novel concept: older theatregoers may have enjoyed one of the series of  Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society plays based on the same premise. But there is always room for more am-dram hilarity, particularly when it’s so precision-engineered.

Stage managers are generally not mentioned in theatre reviews. They are the hidden elves of the stage, working – quite literally – behind the scenes, seen only occasionally, black-clothed and earpieced, as they unobtrusively change a set or deliver a prop. But in The Play That Goes Wrong, the stage managers – Sue Volans, Julian Johnson, Adrian Emmerson and Oscar Turner – are the crucial powerhouse that drives the show forward, hitting every cue perfectly to ensure that more and more of the set tumbles around the actors’ ears to glorious comic effect.

The end result is two hours of almost continuous slapstick comedy as the actors struggle to deal with the challenges of collapsing props, missed cues and injured cast members.

This is most definitely slapstick, not farce. Farce requires a consistent logic to the characters’ actions, however bizarre. When Frank Spencer or Basil Fawlty find themselves in a totally ridiculous situation, the path that has led them there and the choices they have made are completely consistent with their own (albeit twisted) line of
thought, leading them to disaster with all the inevitability of a Greek tragedy.

Slapstick makes fewer narrative demands: as long as the performers end up doing something very silly, the playwright has more liberty to play fast and loose with their motivation. Suspend your disbelief, stop wondering why the characters are doing what they’re doing, and enjoy the ridiculousness.

And ridiculousness there is aplenty in The Play That Goes Wrong, performed by actors who are all wonderfully adept at the challenges of physical comedy. Currently being presented by the London cast – shipped
in urgently as the original Bath cast were bundled into self-isolation following a positive COVID test just as the West End production was (fortuitously for us) plunged into Tier 4 darkness – it is a fine display of the exquisite timing required in getting things wrong.

The Play That Goes Wrong is not a subtle evening of delicate humour. It is a family-friendly, cartoonish cavalcade of mishaps and silliness. Ideal fare for those desperate for something to fill the panto-shaped gap and enjoy a simple evening of slapstick laughter in these dark and depressing times.

The Play That Goes Wrong continues at Theatre Royal Bath until January 16, 2020. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk/event/the-play-that-goes-wrong

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