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Phil Hopkins
Group Travel Editor & Theatre Correspondent
@philhopkinsuk
2:00 PM 23rd May 2017
arts

Predictable Slapstick That Wears Thin

 
The Play That Goes Wrong has more hams in its line up than a butcher's shop three days before Christmas.

But, whilst this Mischief Theatre production now appears to have something of a following, it will only ever have the repeat appeal of a turn-of-the-century music hall comedian.

A strange analogy? Not so! In the pre-TV era gag men could work a lifetime using the same act, visiting venues like the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds once every two or three years. And, people would turn up to hear their jokes time and again, knowing what they were in for, but also appreciating that such an outing might only happen every few years. TV changed all of that.

And so it is with The Play That Goes Wrong. I last saw it in July 2014 but, truthfully, I could have happily gone home at the interval, however, at final curtain, it got an instant standing ovation from a packed house. And therein lies the dilemma.

This is a show for virgins, at best second timers but, longevity? That is not a phrase I will ever associate with this show. If you have never seen it, and you have anything resembling a Chaplinesque sense of humour, then you will love it.

When you have laughed your socks off you will probably want to take someone along next time who hasn't seen it. But, like me, you will sit there chuckling mildly as the 'virgin' next to you - in my case my 89-year-old mum, which is stretching the analogy a bit - laughs heartily. As for a third visit? Unlikely.

The show is a simple, but in many ways, sophisticated format. To do something badly you must be good at it first - Les Dawson on the piano, Tommy Cooper's bungled magic. The Mischief Theatre company is brilliant at being bad, well-rehearsed and with split second timing. They make lousy look easy; that's a compliment by the way!

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society stages Murder at Haversham Manor, a whodunnit, and by the end of the show, nearly everyone's injured, props aren't where they should be, scenery collapses, lines are forgotten and mayhem reigns. Yes, this is the stage version of Michael Green's amateur theatre bible, The Art of Coarse Acting.

However, there is only so much you can ring out of a gag before it limps home like a wounded animal and, last night at Leeds Grand Theatre, there were enough wounded animals to keep Noah supplied for 20 floods.

The Play That Goes Wrong has its place on the British stage because it panders to our sense of the ridiculous, but, for me it is finite, and Mischief Theatre, also devisers of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, will have to keep re-inventing itself if it is to survive because, shows of this type can only exist while ever there is a fresh audience......you will not want to see this five times in the same way you might Les Miserable or Miss Saigon.

If the Peter Pan production came this week I would be happy to be at the back of the queue but I still think it would sell well......at first.

All said, this was clever, well-rehearsed, slick failure at its best. If you've never been, go. If you have, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.

The Play that Goes Wrong
Leeds Grand Theatre
Until Saturday May 27th