At the Grand Theatre’s production of The Play That Goes Wrong, the pre-show bustle — actors in character, who move on and off the stage and into and out of the audience, as they fret over fraught first-night preparations for the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society — sharpens the evening’s frame. It’s clear that we’re about to watch the earnest high-wire act of making theatre, complete with near-misses, miraculous saves and epic fails.
Directed by Dennis Garnhum, this revival, which is fresh from lauded Western Canadian runs, has landed in London (Ontario, not England – there is some comical confusion about this) to kick off the 2025-26 season. And with an extension announced before the show even opened, audiences have clearly embraced this mischief-maker. It’s not hard to see why: the show is a precision-engineered, hysterically funny farce that uncorks every type of chaos that is possible when actors take the stage. And each missed cue, prop malfunction and physical mishap is calibrated to crest exactly when it seems impossible to escalate further … until, of course, it does.
The ensemble’s cohesion is the production’s secret engine. The show being performed is a murder mystery, and the tone is set – with (excuse the pun) deadpan commitment by Alexander Ariate’s Jonathan, who plays the corpse of Charles Haversham, who stubbornly refuses to stay dead. John Ullyatt’s Dennis/Perkins builds glorious momentum out of malapropisms; and Andrew MacDonald-Smith’s Max (Cecil/Arthur) weaponizes unearned confidence into a running joke that somehow does not wear out. Because of an especially funny mishap, Vanessa Leticia Jetté’s Sandra and Honey Pham’s Annie trade places, triggering an uproarious rivalry, while Bernardo Pacheco’s Trevor, the harried tech, gives the sound booth its own comic subplot. Jawon Mapp’s Robert and the stage crew duo of Izad Etemadi and Emily Meadows round out a company that lands knockout punches without ever stepping on one another’s laughs. Even “Krista”, the Drama Society show’s director, who is embodied by Daniela Vlaskalic (doubling as Inspector Carter), becomes part of the delicious machinery of disaster. Put this group all together, and they make a production about Murphy’s Law coming true at every turn run with the timing of a Swiss clock.
And with this production of The Play That Goes Wrong, the set deserves full billing as a character in its own right. Beyata Hackborn’s design is a marvel that appears to disintegrate at exactly the right-wrong moments: doors misbehave, fixtures sway, and platforms deconstruct. The marvel is that this contraption can look so precarious while being evidently rock-solid for performer safety: as such, it’s a love letter to stagecraft. And Kimberly Purtell’s lighting and the sound/composition team of Dave Pierce with Donovan Seidle tune the chaos like pit musicians, while Morgan Yamada’s fight andmovement direction adds crisp comic punctuation. Like a choreographed dance, every department hits its cues – to showcase these hobbyist “actors” missing theirs.
What elevates the Grand’s staging is its affectionate tribute to community theatre and the precarious ephemerality of live performance. The pre-show gambit deepens the conceit: because we witness this production in the act of “getting ready” (and even speak with the actors as they test sightlines, soothe their nerves and search for missing items among the audience) – the eventual unravelling feel both inevitable and delightfully earned. Garnhum’s hand is evident in the pacing: the show breathes where it should, sprints when it must, and never bludgeons the joke. It’s perfect for all ages: wonderfully silly and relentlessly laugh-out-loud funny – but it’s also oddly moving: the Cornley troupe’s dogged determination that the show must go on, no matter the catastrophe, is the beating heart beneath the pratfalls.
The Grand has launched its season with a true crowd-pleaser that is smartly made, nimbly performed, and generous in spirit. With performances on the Spriet Stage until November 2, 2025, The Play That Goes Wrong is a charming start to the 2025-26 season.
© Arpita Ghosal, Sesaya Arts Magazine 2025
