The Play That Goes Wrong at Flat Rock Playhouse

Edwin Arnaudin: Rarely have I been as thankful for your counsel as I was in fall 2018 when you strongly recommended that I see The Play That Goes Wrong at the Peace Center. You’d taken in this farce by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields the year before in London and reported that it was so funny and engaging that it kept you awake in your jet-lagged fog.

Flash forward seven years (eight for you) and The Cornley Drama Society’s troubled staging of Susie H.K. Brideswell’s The Murder at Haversham Manor is back in the area, this time at Flat Rock Playhouse. I’ll soon offer my comparisons of the two productions that I’ve seen, but I’m more curious to hear how your two experiences with this work stack up.

Bruce Steele: Flat Rock's staging is every bit as good as what I saw on the West End. It takes a lot of energy and, well, intricate choreography to keep this show stumbling gleefully forward for two hours, but director Lisa K. Bryant's production never flags. The premise is in the title, and this amusingly overwrought murder mystery, staged by a local theater troupe of dubious talents, is plagued by every stage kerfuffle you can imagine — and some you never see coming. Even knowing what's coming, as you and I did, doesn't dull the laughs, because it's all just so wonderfully ridiculous.

It also takes a game cast of real players committed to portraying a cast of often-bumbling, always hammy fictional players to pull it all off. Who stood out for you?

Edwin: Honestly, everyone. Each actor's character has something quirky about them — be it nervous flatulence or an untapped passion for being on stage — and the range of onstage obstacles they encounter while attempting to deliver their lines inspires immense silliness from all involved.

But this go-round, I was especially taken with Blake Segal, whose Max Bennett has a blast playing Cecil Haversham, brother of the murdered Charles (Galloway Stevens, playing the actor Jonathan Harris). Like a toddler throwing spaghetti at the dining room table, Max is seeking audience encouragement and, once received, becomes addicted to it and ramps up his exaggerated mannerisms. It's a hilariously dangerous game that's richly rewarding for all involved and reminiscent of Martin Short's Ed Grimley character from SNL.

Do you have an MVP from this production?

Bruce: As you said, they're all terrific. David Lind admirably embodies Chris, the play's director who also stars as Inspector Carter. The show's straight man, Lind boils with carefully suppressed rage at everything going wrong (and even had a side-splitting exchange with a “helpful” audience member during our performance). But I think my favorite was Courter Simmons' Dennis, the theater neophyte who has his lines written on his palm and still mispronounces them — to great comic effect. Playing Haversham family butler Perkins, Dennis is also responsible for the dialog loop the cast gets stuck in at one point, a wonderfully funny highlight.

Then there's the award for most character growth, which has to go to Maya J. Christian's Annie, the stage manager who has to take an onstage role when actress Sandra (Flat Rock fan favorite Amanda Tong) is temporarily out of commission as Charles’ fiancée Florence Colleymoore. Christian goes from sheepish to tigress, and she's a joy to watch — as is Tong, who gamely endures some of the show's wildest physical humor as well as delivering dangerous diva delights.

Edwin: Their, er, rivalry becomes a bit too cartoonish at times and was also a weakness of the Peace Center production, but doesn’t come close to derailing the performance.

One of my big questions going into the show was how FRP would handle the working environment of lighting and sound director Trevor Watson. At the Peace Center, he operated out of the opera box closest to stage right, making him highly visible and accentuating his hot-mic commentary and other shenanigans. Here, Bryant and scenic designer Dennis C. Maulden give Trevor a tech box just below stage right — and none other than FRP legend Scott Treadway (rocking a ridiculous black wig and an oversized accent) earns big laughs from these confines, despite being a bit too hidden in the shadows.

Though we mentioned Stevens earlier, he delivers some of the production’s best physical comedy as the infamous “corpse that won’t stay dead” — albeit through no fault of his own (sort of). Once removed from the scene of the crime, his Jonathan makes numerous accidental appearances and merits huge guffaws every time. But arguably more impressive is the acrobatic acting by Paul Vonasek’s Robert Grove as Charles’ best friend and Florence’s brother, Thomas Colleymoore. Whether holding up falling wall hangings, accidentally waterboarding himself, or defying gravity once a particularly dangerous section of the stage begins to crumble, Vonasek is a blast to watch.

Bruce: Usually, one or two players get noticeably louder ovations during the individual bows at the end of the show. But this time out, the applause was equally and enthusiastically delivered — and the curtain call deservedly includes both swing Jahlaynia Winters, who has a few nice onstage moments as Annie’s backstage associate, and the previously unseen stage management crew. As hard as they have to work on this play to facilitate the ever-escalating set failures and to make sure dozens of props wind up in the correct places, they earned their place with the actors, and the shared standing ovation.

Edwin: Truly, I can’t think of another show where the stage team gets acknowledged, but it’s incredibly well-deserved. If only the lighting and sound crews could also take a bow — they merit such attention as well: it takes a lot of talent to, well, successfully pull off a production as wonky as The Murder at Haversham Manor.

Also, this is the rare show where you want to arrive early. It takes a second to realize what’s happening, but there’s some fun behind-the-scenes bonus acting on stage and, thanks to Treadway’s Trevor, in the audience space as well. It really is a theater experience unlike any other.

The Play That Goes Wrong runs through Saturday, Aug. 23. For details and tickets, visit FlatRockPlayhouse.org.

(Photo by Jeb Purcell/Courtesy of Flat Rock Playhouse)