Theater Review: "The Play That Goes Wrong" by Amity Creative Theater

The Amity Creative Theater in conjunction with The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society will make audiences laugh this weekend with an hysterical production of “The Play the Goes Wrong.” Performances are scheduled for Dec. 8 - 10 at the John J. Brady Center for the Performing Arts.

The students used the high school edition of the play which was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. The script has been cut to about 75 minutes and the scenery required is a one level unit set.

The madcap action is set in the Cornley Polytechnic Institute in Cornley, England, where the Cornley Drama Society are presenting the show “The Murder at Haversham Manor.”

This play was Broadway's funniest smash hit and I laughed my way through the touring company production at the Palace. This Olivier Award-winning comedy is a hilarious hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes.

The audience is welcomed to opening night of “The Murder at Haversham Manor” where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. With an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines),

There are pre show antics begin as the last of the audience members are finding their seats, as one crew member is looking for a lost dog and another grabs an audience member to help her with a fallen mantlepiece, with comic results, of course. For this is a script that is filled with missed cues, fun physical comedy, sight gags, prop and scenery disasters and much more designed to bring the laughs.

Broadway's funniest smash hit! This Olivier Award-winning comedy is a hilarious hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes. Welcome to opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. With an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines),

Everything that can go wrong in an onstage performance does go wrong in this show and it is an absolutely hoot. Audience members that have any experience with performing or working backstage will appreciate the antics that these actors convincingly portray. The Amity students do a wonderful job of bringing their actors/characters to life.

Lilly Parady plays Taylor (Trevor) Watson, the lighting and sound operator.

Michael Perrone plays Chris Bean, the actor who portrays Inspector Carter.and serves as the show's director, set designer, costume designer, prop maker, box office manager, press and PR person, dramaturgy, voice coach, dialect coach, and fight choreographer.

Milki Ijara takes on the role of Annie Twilloil, the stage manager, who reluctantly covers for the actress who is knocked unconscious on stage.

Declan O’ Rourke, as the actor Jonathan Harris, gets to play Charles Haversham.
Jacob Ebert is Robert Grove, the actor who plays Thomas Coleymore.

Grace Kennedy is fun to watch as the actress Denise, who portrays the maid Perkins. The character is named Dennis Tyde in the script.

Grace Lupoli is Sandra Wilkinson, the actress who gets to overact in the role of Florence Colleymore. Spencer Fiske is the busy actor Max Bennett, who portrays Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardener.

Harry Rosenay plays Frank and Tori Pocwierz is Sally and Daisy Kusnitz is Billi.

Robert Kennedy both directed and produced the production, and probably had fun as he managed all of the technical details of this story. He also designed the all-important set that, let’s just say, presents with many demands. Kennedy also was in charge of the sound design that worked well.

Dan Hassenmayer was the lighting designer of some very funny lighting cues and Harry Rosenay serves as the Live Foley Artist. Julie Chevan was the costume designer of the wonderful period outfits and the all-black for the backstage crew. Andrea Kennedy was in charge of hair and makeup design. Caroline Camera served as the dialogue coach for the British accents. Sarah Ginsberg collected an interesting group of props that are intentionally never where they are supposed to be.

The play is presented with one fifteen-minute intermission and runs about two hours. The opening night audience laughed throughout the two acts, with Amity students loudly supporting their classmates in the cast.

The spring musical at Amity will be “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast The Broadway Musical.”

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues. She posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column and theatre reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.

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