Farce is a matter of taste.
This was perfectly illustrated by
the reactions to the current production of The Play That Goes Wrong that is now
playing at the Ed Mirvish Theatre.
First there were the enthusiastic
laughers. They came primed to enjoy a farce and they laughed at the exaggerated
acting and every mishap, pratfall, near-miss and outlandish incident even if it
was repeated a dozen times. They gave the performance a standing ovation.
There were the less enthusiastic
laughers who found many routines genuinely (funny) but showed restraint on
other occasions and were less keen on quite a few of the repetitive routines.
There was a small contingent who
smiled a few times and maybe threw in a few laughs but their overall assessment
was lukewarm, even negative. I did notice a few people leave during intermission,
but they may have done it for reasons other than giving the production unmitigated
thumbs down.
The plot? The Cornley University
Drama Society is staging a whodunit called The Murder at Haversham Manor. The
Cornley is not so much accident-prone as disaster- predisposed to and they
suffer every stage calamity that the three authors could devise. And one must
credit Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields with having very fertile
imaginations.
How disaster prone is The
Cornley? Well, casting issues have forced them to produce the following famous
plays: Two Sisters, Snow White and the Seven Tall Men, Cat and other
gems like that.
The Murder at Haversham Manor
is a play within a play-within-a-play and the title The Play that Goes Wrong may
be considered an accurate description, a promise and for some perhaps a warning.
As I said, it is all a matter of taste.
Charles Haversham (Yaegel T.
Welch) of the manor is murdered or is found murdered when the “play” starts
after we witness parts of the set collapsing preceded by havoc in starting the
performance at all. Do we see Charles dead in the opening scene and see no more
of him after that? Well may you ask, and no, I will not tell you.
A murder investigation needs an
Inspector and we have the classic bumbler played by Evan Alexander Smith.
Perkins (Scott Cote) is the indispensable butler Perkins. Charles has a
brother, Cecil (Ned Noyes) who is having an affair with his (brother’s) fiancée
Florence (Jamie Ann Romero) who (also) has a brother Thomas (Peyton Crim). And
there is Arthur the Gardener played by Noyes. There is also the Stage Manager
Annie (Angela Grovey) and the Lighting and Sound Operator played by Brandon J.
Ellis.
The roles in The Murder are played by
members of The Cornley who are named as such in the cast list for that play and
then given credit as such in the cast list for The Play. Don’t worry
about that, you won’t pay any attention to it.
The set collapses almost
continually, scotch is given to drink numerous times and it is sprayed
forcefully out of the mouth of the drinker every time. People are struck in the
face or on the head by doors, windows and falling pieces of whatever is around.
There is verbal humour, at times mercilessly repetitive. All these actions are
done incessantly and with accelerating speed and increasing physicality.
Matt DiCarlo directs the tour
company production based on the original direction by Mark Bell. Whatever your
laughter quotient, you have to give very high marks for DiCarlo/Bell for
directing and to Nigel Hook (design) for putting the show together and the cast
for break-neck performances.
As for the rest, it is a matter
of taste.
__________
The Play That Goes Wrong by
Henry Lewis,
Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields opened on January 9, 2019 and will play
until February 10 2019 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria Street, Toronto,
Ont. M5B 1V8. 416.872.1212
or 1.800.461.3333. www.mirvish.com
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