Theatre review: Black Box Theatre Co.'s The Play That Goes Wrong gets the chaos right
At the Waterfront, actors embrace mishaps while set pieces are programmed to go awry on cue
The Play That Goes Wrong’s Trevor Roberts, James Barclay, Jordon Navratil, Tracy Labrosse, Chris Dellinger, Nick Palidwor (lying prone). Photo by Dominique Labrosse
Black Box Theatre Co. presents The Play That Goes Wrong at the Waterfront Theatre to August 30
WHAT’S JUST AS entertaining as a play that’s impeccably polished? One that’s impeccably polished to fall apart.
Black Box Theatre Co.’s production of the international hit The Play That Goes Wrong, now at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island, is a wildly fun ride. Similar in concept to Noises Off, it gleefully lampoons a hapless theatre company staging a play, stumbling through forgotten lines, misplaced props, full-on set collapses, and more.
Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of the U.K.’s Mischief Theatre Company, The Play That Goes Wrong follows the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society on opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor, a 1920s murder mystery. Before the play within the play begins, the show’s director, Chris Bean (a self-assured Jordon Navratil), delivers a preshow speech acknowledging the company’s shortcomings in previous productions—namely from limited budgets that led to downscaled versions of shows such as Two Sisters (instead of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters), Cat (singular), and James and the Peach (minus the “giant”). However, thanks to a substantial bequest, Bean assures the audience that this show will fare much better.
The Murder at Haversham Manor offers similarities to Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which in real life is playing on the other side of Granville Island. In a great early mishap, Bean apologies to the “219 audience members” who thought they had booked tickets to The Mousetrap, but due to a box office error have ended up The Murder at Haversham Manor instead. But as the play within the play begins, it’s soon apparent that this ticketing mistake is the least of anyone’s concerns, as everything that seemingly could go wrong, does and more, often rising to great comedic heights.
However, the biggest laughs don’t come from the mishaps. Instead, the main comedy is in the cast upholding its show-must-go-on attitude, persisting in saying their lines as written no matter what. Missing and mixed-up props and lines escalate into a huge disaster. The fiascos include an actor grabbing a bottle of Clorox that later serves as the “whiskey” the actors must drink; someone forgetting a line that results in the cast having to cycle through the same section of script repeatedly; and a missing pen that spirals into prop chaos.
Some of the blunders involve serious physical incidents—actors getting hit by set pieces, falling scenery, and more—which not only results in roaring laughter from the audience, but also further emphasizes the outstanding work of Tracy Labrosse, who is at the core of this production—not only directing, but designing the set and performing in the show.
Jordon Navratil, Matt Loop, Christopher Dellinger, Trevor Roberts, and Rebecca Wass. Photo by Dominique Labrosse
The amount of detailed work that has been done to ensure everything goes wrong, while ensuring performer safety, is staggering, and Labrosse has ensured it unfolds flawlessly. Her 1920s-style English manor living-room set intentionally looks like a low-budget Agatha Christie–style murder mystery, complete with an obviously painted-on bookshelf. And yet Labrosse’s set, which was constructed by James Barclay, is a carefully engineered machine where pieces go awry on cue, sometimes putting the actors in The Murder at Haversham Manor in life-threatening situations. There’s even a tremendous physical stunt by actor Nick Palidwor that drew gasps from the audience on opening night.
Labrosse herself is terrific as Sandra, who plays Florence Colleymoore, the fiancé of the murdered Charles Haversham in the play within the play. Labrosse gives her character a fiery determination to ensure the show goes on despite the chaos, a quality that’s matched by the rest of the cast, all of whom display sharp comedic timing and characterization. The actors even cheekily break the fourth wall, with Christopher Dellinger wandering into the lobby during intermission with a martini glass in hand. Elsewhere, Matt Loop and Rebecca Wass as production crew members Trevor and Annie interact with audiences beforehand and eventually taking the stage themselves. Fans of Taylor Swift will also enjoy how her music has been incorporated into the play.
Throughout The Play That Goes Wrong, every misstep, prop disaster, and physical stunt is meticulously orchestrated for brilliant comedic effect. It’s a performance that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, nervously anticipating the next catastrophe—and delighting in each one as it unfolds. While it's a disaster for the characters onstage, the show offers a fun escape from the everyday. It’s next to impossible to leave without a huge smile. Black Box Theatre Co. definitely gets everything right with The Play That Goes Wrong. 
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