THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG – Written by Jonathan Sayer, Henry Lewis, Henry Shields; Directed by Rob Mess. Produced by the Longmont Theatre Company (presented at 513 Main Street, Longmont) through October 3. Tickets available at 303-772-5200 or Longmonttheatre.org.
I have never seen so many people having so much fun on a stage trying to keep everything from going wrong and failing miserably. The ambitious crew at Longmont are not pretending they are the fictional Cornley Drama Society. They have BECOME the Cornley Drama Society. A small-town theatre company doing a play way over their capabilities, convinced they have the talent to pull it off, confident in their technical prowess, determined to make it work no matter what happens . . . . and then allows the audience see the whole thing disintegrate. This production makes so much more sense than watching a slick professional company wheel into town, perform for a week, and then go on to another stage somewhere down the line. These people put their hearts and souls into a production they never should have tried. AND TOTALLY BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER.
You know there must have been rehearsals involved. You HAVE to know how many hours were spent in designing and creating a set that does what this set does. You have to appreciate how many bumps and bruises this cast is getting as they maneuver their way through the catastrophes that are happening night after night. Ponder if you will how hard they had to work to get through the show without laughing their asses off. But they make you think that all of this is happening IN SPITE of all the work that went into making this a lovely night at the theatre solving an Agatha Christie type of murder mystery.
OMG! I haven’t laughed so hard in many a moon. They surprised this old experienced theatre-goer. They pulled out all the stops and went for it. What a delicious treat for Colorado viewers! How proud they must be of themselves! With good reason.
The company must have a structural engineer on board that worked for Buster Keaton in the old days. A genius at “falling apart” architecture. They pulled off mechanical things that theatres with twice the budget gave up on in presenting the show. If this set doesn’t get recognition at the Henry’s this year, I’d be surprised.
There’s too many people to call out and no need to. Every single person involved with this production – on stage and off – gave their all for this show. They worked like a well-tuned clavichord. Director Rob Mess worked out the kinks and then kicked the ant hill to see where they would go with it. I could analyze and give you history and subtext and all that crap. But this isn’t the kind of show you need to know anything about. Just get there and laugh like I did.
Way too short a run! And once the word gets out, you’re going to have to bribe someone to get a ticket. There is NOTHING wrong with this play that went wrong.
A WOW factor of 10!!