\ud83c\udfad NEW! San Diego Theatre Newsletter<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a very particular kind of joy in watching something fall apart\u2014especially when it\u2019s this carefully orchestrated. \u201cThe Play That Goes Wrong\u201d, now playing at Lamb\u2019s Players Theatre through June 7th, is a high-octane exercise in theatrical catastrophe, where every missed cue, collapsing set piece, and mangled line is executed to make audiences laugh.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfad NEW! San Diego Theatre Newsletter<\/p>\n
Think of it as a younger sibling to \u201cNoises Off\u201d: this production skips the slow burn of character-building and dives headfirst into disaster. The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society<\/a> has mounted a very serious 1920s murder mystery in the tradition of “The Mousetrap”, and from the moment it begins, everything goes spectacularly wrong. Doors won\u2019t cooperate, props vanish mid-scene, actors lose their place, and the set itself seems determined to sabotage the entire endeavor.<\/p>\n This is a farce with a muuurrrrderers! row of performers, and what makes it work is the ensemble\u2019s commitment to \u201cacting badly well.\u201d The ensemble includes Brian Mackey<\/a>, Mike Sears<\/a>, Rachael VanWormer<\/a>, Bryan Banville<\/a> (who\u2019s also the production\u2019s fight captain), Caitie Grady<\/a>, Geno Carr<\/a>, Walter Murray<\/a>, and Spencer Gerber.\u00a0<\/p>\n Every flubbed line and bungled entrance is intentional, requiring timing and control. The physical comedy is particularly strong, echoing the stylized chaos of Buster Keaton<\/a> and Charlie Chaplin<\/a>, with a touch of Mr. Bean\u2019s oblivious persistence.<\/p>\n Grady has a funny arc as the stage manager, suddenly thrust into the spotlight, with a fun mix of delight and panic. VanWormer starts as a comedically flashy fianc\u00e9e character, but escalates as she battles (literally) to reclaim her role after being sidelined.\u00a0 Banville is the most animated corpse you\u2019ll ever see, refusing to stay convincingly dead.\u00a0 Carr\u2019s butler is a nervous wreck, with lines scrawled on his hands and pronunciations that spiral into absurdity. Gerber leans into the vanity of an actor determined to wring applause from any role, while Sears and Mackey deliver some of the evening\u2019s most impressive physical comedy as the set collapses around them. Murray provides a grounded counterpoint as Trevor, the unbothered tech operator, is more concerned with his Duran Duran Greatest Hits CD than the unfolding disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n The audience response at my performance was enthusiastic delight and laughter, with multiple applause breaks for the show\u2019s intricate physical gags. At one point, audience members shouted out the location of a missing prop, which the Mackey seamlessly incorporated, fueling the laughter even further.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, the technical work is just as impressive. Amanda Quivey\u2019s set is engineered to fall apart on cue, along with\u00a0 Jessica Couto\u2019s resilient props design. Deborah Gilmour Smyth<\/a>\u2019s sound design punctuates every pratfall, while Tyler Olson\u2019s lighting and Jemima Dutra\u2019s costumes complete the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n Director Robert Smyth<\/a>, alongside Assistant Director and Fight and Movement Choreographer Jordan Miller<\/a>, ensures the mayhem remains controlled. To whoever decided Mike Sears<\/a> needed a chest-buster moment, ala ALIENS, I salute you.<\/p>\n Stage manager Tyler Dean deserves enormous credit for keeping everything running exactly as it should\u2014even when it appears to be going completely off the rails.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth celebrating the curtain call, which includes the crew taking bows\u2014a joyful reminder of the many hands required to bring a production like this to life. Let\u2019s normalize that.<\/p>\n This is broad, relentless comedy that occasionally veers into pantomime, and it may not be everyone\u2019s taste. The play does exactly what its title promises, with precision, mischief, and an undeniable sense of fun.<\/p>\n How To Get Tickets<\/p>\n \u201cThe Play That Goes Wrong\u201d is playing at Lamb\u2019s Players Theatre in Coronado through June 7th.\u00a0 For ticket and showtime information, go to www.lambs.org<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reader Reviews<\/p>\n To post a comment, you must register<\/a> and login<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udfad NEW! San Diego Theatre Newsletter Get all the top news & discounts for San Diego & beyond.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-274276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-san-diego","9":"tag-san-diego-headlines","10":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}