The Play That Goes Wrong has landed in Cardiff to make everyone laugh and have a good time. It is an award winning comedy act, that has been in London’s West End for seven years already. Created by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer for Mischief Theatre Company.

For the purposes of this review, we were given free entries to The Play That Goes Wrong.

We were kindly invited by Wales Millennium Centre, to attend the opening night of this show on Monday. We had previously heard about the show, but we didn’t know what to expect. The show starts very unexpectedly, we had never been to a show where the cast were actually walking around near the audience and there was a point where we weren’t sure whether the show had started or not. Everything started with a cast member looking for a lost dog. And if you go to this event you will know what we are talking about. The lights were still on, so at this point everyone is wondering what is happening and are confused, like we were.

There is no denying that from the very beginning you start laughing, because the show starts and you get that sense that things are not going right. A member of the audience gets pulled out by a backstage member of staff, to help mend a broken mantelpiece. And it doesn’t quiet go right, even though she did do her best in helping the staff. That was very fun to see. This is a first for us, it is great to see a member of the audience get to experience being on stage, receiving everyone’s applause and energy.

The Cornley Drama Society bring us a 1920’s murder mystery, to discover who has murdered the owner of a manor, Charles Haversham. During the play you see doors getting stuck, things falling from their place, cast members misplacing props, forgetting lines and mispronouncing words. The tech team messing up the music and lighting queues, from beginning to end you see that it is one catastrophe after another. 

Ultimately everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. And it has you in deep belly laughs, because it is genuinely funny. In the First Act Inspector Carter, along with the help of Perkins (Haversham’s butler) try to establish Mr Haversham’s cause of death. In this act we would say are favourite part is the interpretation of Cecil’s lines. He does them by acting out what he is saying. Which is fantastic and funny. All the cast members were fantastic, but we can not deny our favourites were Cecil and Perkins. And you must go to watch this, so you find out for yourself why we liked them. 

In the Second Act the mystery is finally solved and no, we aren’t going to say what happened because we want to recommend you to go and watch it! You will have a pleasant time and we can guarantee that. In this act, if you thought doors getting stuck and things falling off the walls was bad, then you are not prepared to see what happens in this act. The whole set walls fall off, there is also floors collapsing, with the play ending with the whole set collapsed. What a great end to a funny play. The cast were amazing and a big praise to the production team, who have created a very clever show, the set was very cleverly planned and the props are all on point. Well done. 

Thanks to Wales Millennium Centre for having us.

The Play That Goes Wrong is a family event, where children as young as 8+ years old can attend. It will be showing at Wales Millennium Centre, as part of their UK tour and they will be there until Saturday 18 June. Tickets start from £15.50. Go to the Wales Millennium Centre website for more details, you will find the link in our bio. 

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