Murder, Mayhem & Mirth

The Play That Goes Wrong is the new kid on the block, a funny novelty that will eventually run its coarse, sorry course!

There's no doubt that Mischief Theatre's latest creation - Peter Pan Goes Wrong is one of its others - has lots of belly laughs, but it is like hearing a comedian's best gag, unless you leave a 12 month gap before you hear it again, it won't seem quite as funny second time around.

But isn't comedy sometimes about what you 'know' is coming, and it's that which makes it funny? Punch and Judy has lasted for decades but the story never changes, kids still howl and policeman continue to be hanged!

However, formulaic madness is finite and a collapsing set, mispronounced words and ham acting that would have made author Michael Green ('The Art of Coarse Acting') proud, has, in my opinion, limited staying power.

But that comment takes nothing away from last night's excellent production which, for a first timer, was genuinely funny and the perfect tonic for chasing away the Monday night blues.

Young writers Henry Shields, Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer - all excellent in this play within a play - have hit on something that's of its time, just as the Reduced Shakespeare Company found a nice line in the Bard's work before moving on to the Bible and a raft of other 'reduced' works.

The show centres around Cornley Polytechnic Society's production of whodunit, The Murder At Haversham Manor, and it isn't long before the upstairs floor collapses as another character walks into the room's support joist downstairs, virtually knocking himself out and, literally, brings the house down!

Someone is left bloodied, a stage hand and the leading lady jockey for position, dialogue becomes mixed up, as do the props, and there's upstaging to die for......even the dead actor flinches as another Thespian stands on his fingers!

Leeds Grand is the last venue for this seven month tour and the actors are extremely slick in their appalling performances! You have to know your script backwards if you are to perform it badly and, in the same way that Les Dawson was a good pianist despite his tonal foolery, this company was professional in their absolute chaos.

The Play That Goes Wrong is a rumbustious farce and, if you are feeling upset, down, or have had a bout of Seasonal Affective Disorder, then you should go because you will howl all the way to the car afterwards, even if it is raining.

Until Saturday.