By Jennifer Mustoe
Come prepared to laugh your head off at The SCERA Center for the Arts’ The Play That Goes Wrong in Orem. It is so funny–well, I’ll try to find the words. Wish me luck.
From start to finish, The Play That Goes Wrong is loaded with missteps, pratfalls, dropped lines, set malfunctions, and cutesy (and hilarious) actors who cheese for the audience. And more. The hilarity is high, the actors’ timing is precise and glorious, and everything went right. No wait. It all went wrong, to the delight of the raucous crowd at opening night at the SCERA.
What makes The Play That Goes Wrong perfectly right is a variety of things:
- Great direction thanks to Director Chase Ramsey. He is a director with a huge amount of experience as an actor and director and playwright. I’ve found that the best directors have had their time on the boards and he has. You can see it in the final product of The Play That Goes Wrong. He has taken the wrongness and made it rightness.
- Talented actors. This troupe of actors have used their skills to perfect the precise timing and the intense willingness to bring it to the crowd. I heard one of the actors after the show mention that there were some foibles. One would never know. And in this kind of show, it just worked anyway. This ensemble is ready for the craziness from the script, but are so tightly attuned and immersed in the comedy that what went wrong (for reals) went right.
- A remarkable feat by the production crew.
There is no one star of The Play That Goes Wrong, but all the actors in character are more than willing to preen and overact and steal the spotlight from one another. The Play That Goes Wrong is a play within a play–namely, The Murder at Haversham Manor, a show that takes place in the 1920’s, an Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit. But funny. But it’s not supposed to be funny. The premise is the acting company, the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, has finally found a play that just happens to have enough parts for their little group and so of course, that show must go on. The group is comprised of Dylan Burmingham plays Inspector Carter and Director. Burmingham is in character onstage and during all the antics with the audience members before the show and during intermission. He is thoroughly goofy and in part because his character is oh so serious. He’s the inspector, after all.
Bryson Smellie plays Thomas Colleymore and this role is filled with fun quips and bits, so watch him carefully. He has a lot of the physical comedy and Grove makes the most of these. How much of it was improvisation? It’s hard to say. But he makes it all look effortlessly hilarious.
David Peterson plays Charles Haversham, the murder victim, but don’t despair. Playing dead has never been funnier. Keep your eyes on Peterson in the first scene. Don’t look away–you’ll miss some great comedy. I’d say more but I’m anti-spoiler.
The femme fatale, Florence Colleymore, the wronged (and oh so right!) fiancee engaged to Charles Haversham is played by Eden Bostrom. This talented actress makes the most of the ghastly overacting role she plays. When she’s onstage, you are tempted to never stop watching her. She is so…so…great at being a really bad actor. It’s clear Bostrom immersed herself in this role, and the crowd loved it.
Perkins the butler is played convincingly by Samuel Wright. Perkins, ah Perkins. I identify with this character a great deal because Perkins can’t remember (or pronounce) several words in many monologues. I may or may not have had to hold a clipboard (for the character, of course) to remember a line or twelve in a role I played many moons ago. There’s a great bit in the show where the same lines go in a loop and it takes Perkins forever to remember the line that gets them out of this horror. This may have also happened to me. Wright is brilliant at being appalling.
Scott Hendrickson as Cecil Haversham/Arthur the Gardener is all that is marvelous overacting and cheese-meister smiling. Did he have his teeth whitened? I’m going to say yes. Why would I say this? Because Hendrickson-Cecil-Arthur breaks the fourth wall and beams with almost cherubic merriment all. the. time. Bennett’s choreography as Cecil is a sight to behold. Let’s just say, his cavorting is high and highly humorous.
Shannon Follette‘s Stage Manager Annie–wait–I don’t want to give away this plot point. Suffice it to say, Follette is like every stage manager/tech person I’ve ever known, and every scene stealer I’ve ever hated. Her physical comedy and willingness to upstage a certain character is pure beauty. I talked to Follette after the show and gushed about her performance and asked, “Are you tired?” She smiled and replied a resounding, “Yes!” *deep breath*
The next three roles I really don’t want to describe much because it’s part of the plot that you need to just see as it progresses. These roles are played by Ethan Devey, Lauren Billings, and Jason Mackay Eastmond. Hoorays all round for these three. They stay completely in character and it’s surprising how The Play That Goes Wrong has created these three characters that are very representative of a real production crew, but made them ridiculously hilarious. But the real brilliance is how these three actors embrace these roles.
SCERA’s real production crew are to be applauded and thanked. Except Scenic Designer Zippy Hellewell. That set! What a mess! (See the show and realize that I’m joking.) Way to make it happen, Hellewell. Costumes by Deborah Bowman are over the top (is that a pun?) and perfect. Check out Thomas Colleymore’s snappy ensemble. And Florence Colleymore’s lovely gown. Every costume in on point. Elizabeth Griffiths‘ lighting, Chase Elison‘s Sound, and Christy Norton‘s Props are amazing. Fight Choreography by Burningham is swash bucklingly wonderful. Sword fighting that’s humorous? Yep. The Play That Goes Wrong needs a tight unit of production crew members and we have that right here in Orem.
The SCERA Center for the Arts brings consistent valuable, family-friendly offerings to our community. But the detail and support they’ve shown with this current show needs to be mentioned. The theatre is pretty and quaint, the snacks are yummy, and the many volunteers working are a joy. Everything about the place is at once professional but comfortable. And this show–well, as I write this review, I’ve consistently smiled. (Check out the phony cast biographies in the beginning of the program. Good stuff!)
One last thing. I saw this same show in London, and it was just as funny. It’s a funny show. But I’m not sure if it’s the British penchant for a stiff upper lip, or Utahns needing a good laugh after our dismal winter, but the crowd last night was crazed, responsive, out of control with clapping, laughing, and several shouts of, “You got this!” at particular points in the show. When you go to The Play That Goes Wrong at the SCERA (and go–really–GO) be prepared to laugh and laugh and laugh. And laugh.
SCERA Center for the Arts presents The Play That Goes Wrong, by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company.
SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 South State, Orem, UT, 84058
April 14–May 6, 2023, 7:30 PM (Monday, Thursday-Saturday)
Tickets: $12 (children/Seniors) $14 (Adults), all seats reserved
Contact: 801-225-2787
SCERA Website
SCERA Facebook Page
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