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Review: ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ at La Mirada Theatre

Anita W. Harris

From left: Michael-Leon Wooley, Mary Faber, Trent Mills, Regina Fernandez (hanging) and John Sanders in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left: Michael-Leon Wooley, Mary Faber, Trent Mills, Regina Fernandez (hanging) and John Sanders in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)

The understaffed yet undaunted Cornley Drama Society is staging its whodunnit “The Murder at Haversham Manor” at La Mirada Theatre through Feb. 16. While it’s a legitimate murder mystery, what you’re there to see is all the ways the play goes terribly, horribly – and hilariously – wrong.

 

Poor Chris (John Sanders) – “The Murder at Haversham Manor” is his directorial debut and he has cast every one of the drama society’s actors and crew to stage it, including himself as Detective Carter, who is called in when Charles Haversham, played by “Jonathan” (a well-cast Sterling Sulieman), turns up dead on a chaise lounge (and no, it’s definitely not a couch, for reasons Chris tries to explain).

From left: Garrett Clayton (on floor), Mary Faber, Paige Robitaille, Michael-Leon Wooley, Regina Fernandez and Sterling Sulieman (on sofa) in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left: Garrett Clayton (on floor), Mary Faber, Paige Robitaille, Michael-Leon Wooley, Regina Fernandez and Sterling Sulieman (on sofa) in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)

But at every moment of the production, what can go wrong – a door not opening, stage props falling apart, lines mixed up – does go wrong, with astonishing regularity. And yet, the cast and crew intrepidly carry on as if nothing were amiss, even when literally everything is.

 

It’s a brilliant conceit, created in 2012 by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields of UK-based Mischief Theatre, the team also behind “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” and other “goes wrong”-type productions. Interestingly, seeing everything go wrong calls attention to how much must go right – stage props working, sound designs on cue, actors remembering lines, realistic effects – for a theatrical production to work.

 

Fortunately for us, “The Murder at Haversham Manor” is perhaps the worst staged production ever. Also fortunately, the cast and crew manage to hold it together nonetheless – at least mostly.

From left, top: Trent Mills John Sanders and Reggie De Leon; bottom: Garrett Clayton, Sterling Sulieman and Regina Fernandez in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left, top: Trent Mills John Sanders and Reggie De Leon; bottom: Garrett Clayton, Sterling Sulieman and Regina Fernandez in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)

The actors who play the cast seem to enjoy immersing themselves in the play’s physically demanding roles. Regina Fernandez smolders hysterically as “Sandra” playing Charles’s fiancée Florence Colleymoore. Trent Mills similarly excels as “Robert” playing Florence’s manly brother Thomas, who at one point literally gets stuck holding together an entire floor of furniture.


And the boyish Garrett Clayton gleefully sends up his role as stagestruck “Max,” portraying Charles’s younger brother Cecil, who is having a secret affair with Florence, which is funny because Max clearly has an aversion to female intimacy.

From leftJohn Sanders, Mary Faber, Reggie De Leon and Trent Mills in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From leftJohn Sanders, Mary Faber, Reggie De Leon and Trent Mills in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)

Adding to the joy is comic actor Reggie De Leon as “Dennis,” portraying Perkins the butler, pourer of makeshift whiskey (a.k.a. cleaning fluid) who gets the cast stuck in an endless loop of dialogue by helplessly repeating a line.

 

Michael-Leon Wooley becomes an audience favorite as lighting and sound operator Trevor, who has a Duran Duran fixation and reluctantly fills in for incapacitated actors when they get knocked unconscious by mishaps or stage props, as does scrappy stage manager Annie (Mary Faber), who gamely jumps in to compensate for a missing fireplace mantel and to read Florence’s part even when the pages of the script hopelessly scatter, catfighting Sandra to keep playing the role once the actress recovers.

From left: Trent Mills, John Sanders, Reggie De Leon and Garrett Clayton  in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)
From left: Trent Mills, John Sanders, Reggie De Leon and Garrett Clayton  in "The Play That Goes Wrong" at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (Photo by Jason Niedle/TETHOS)

A co-production of La Mirada Theatre and McCoy Rigby Entertainment, the play is well-paced as directed by Eric Petersen, with more mayhem packed into two hours than you'd think possible.


Corny, cheesy, metatheatrical – “The Play That Goes Wrong” is all this and more. And more laughs could not be had at the theatre as a result. Catch it now before the Cornley Drama Society starts getting better at staging their mystery and ruins all the fun.

 

“The Play That Goes Wrong” continues at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada, through Feb. 16, with performances Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310, or visiting LaMiradaTheatre.com. Run time is 2 hours, including intermission.

 

 

 

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