It’s opening night, and nothing about the Cornley Drama Society’s production of The Murder at Haversham Manor will go right—in fact, it is the play that goes wrong.

Of course, that’s entirely the point.

In the latest production of the Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer’s play that catapulted the fictional Cornley Drama Society to Broadway and to a two-series television run on BBC One, Theatre Calgary is continuing the comedy and hijinx in their truest and purest form: on a local theatre stage.

The Play That Goes Wrong is coming to Calgary as part of a three-city tour, with Edmonton and Winnipeg, and marks the return of former Theatre Calgary Artistic Director Dennis Garnhum to the Max Bell Theatre.

“It’s like a double whammy in the best kind of ways. First of all, I love Theater Calgary. I’ve always loved Theater Calgary. It’s been important, I was here for 11 years as Artistic Director, so coming back for anything would be amazing and exciting. And then, even better, it’s The Play That Goes Wrong,” said Garnhum, who directed the play.

“I literally think it’s the funniest play on the planet, and I’ve witnessed already in Edmonton, the reaction is one of the most beautiful, and I use that word intentionally, beautiful experiences I’ve ever had with an audience.

“There’s nothing better in the world right now than laughter, nothing. We need a release. We need a break. We need to think about other things than all the problems of the world. That’s what this production, this play gives.”

Ostensibly, the production centres around the incompetent, unprepared, and at times just outright bad actors trying to put on a murder mystery where absolutely nothing goes right. From forgotten lines to the very set itself falling apart.

In turn, what audiences have gotten is non-stop laughs and more than a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments of hilarity from a cast and crew who are anything but their fictional counterparts.

“Every inch of this play is choreographed, and one of my challenges as the director is to make sure there’s enough breath and freedom within it so that they’re alive. It looks pretty easy,” said Garnhum.

“But also, I think what I’ve enjoyed is the audience can feel that there’s a lot more going on than they know, in order to make such a simple thing look so simple.”

Andrew MacDonald-Smith, who is playing Cornley Drama Society’s Max, who is in turn playing the roles of Cecil and the gardener in The Murder at Haversham Manor, said that performing in the play was a lot like performing in a musical—sans music.

“It’s interesting to relate it to my musical background… there’s a lot of timing, there’s a ton of choreography, it’s just not dancing. But it is a ton of choreography, and it’s almost musical in its timing because comedy is a build-up of tension and then a release,” he said.

“The audience needs to be just a little bit behind you, never ahead of you. It is sort of like a huge musical, just without any singing.”

One of the exhilarating parts of performing in The Play That Goes Wrong, he said, was how literally the stage set falls apart all around the actors, very much embodying physical humour in addition to the wit and charm of characters that lack both.

“It’s thrillingly terrifying to have everything falling around you. We’ve rehearsed it so clearly that when it falls around you, it’s like a roller coaster ride. You know you’re safe, but it’s still terrifying in a really thrilling, adrenaline-pumping way.”

That madcap murder mystery theme has been described as Noises Off meets The Mousetrap.

“This is a comedy for theatre people. Or anyone who’s done a play, anyone who did plays in high school, and we’ve all seen community theatre plays. So I feel like it really touches everyone’s experience,” said MacDonald-Smith.

The Play That Goes Wrong has its run at Theatre Calgary from Sept. 3 through 29 at the Max Bell Theatre in Arts Commons. Tickets are on sale now at www.theatrecalgary.com/shows/the-play-that-goes-wrong.

Photos from The Play That Goes Wrong