The cast of “The Play That Goes Wrong” brings fun and laughter to the Constellation Stage and Screen at the Waldron Arts Center. On March 23, I went to go see a production and it is the perfect play for anyone wanting to forget about the day's responsibilities and needing a good laugh.
It’s a play-within-a-play as a group of actors attempt to put on a production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” While the characters attempt to solve the murder of Charles Haversham, the actors struggle to adapt as everything that could go wrong during a performance does. Props start breaking, the set falls apart and the leading lady gets knocked out, but of course the show must go on.
Right from the beginning, the actors’ amazing performances held the audience’s attention and had them laughing until the very end. The tone of the play is set from the beginning of the evening when a crew member invited someone from the audience up to the stage to assist with a couple of the broken props. The audience member was told to hold up a broken mantelpiece and hold a door closed while the crew member left to go backstage. Later in the show, these props fell apart in the middle of the performance to much hilarity.
One of the most surprising things was how everything started to get progressively worse without anyone getting actually hurt. The walls started falling around the actors and the second story floor literally fell from under their feet, but it was all orchestrated so well. It was very amusing how the actors were able to create chaos out of what was meant to be a normal production of a play.
All the actors in the play did an amazing job at portraying each of their characters, but the one actor I would like to shed the most light on is Alanna Porter, who plays Annie. Porter is a third-year IU student studying musical theater. The character she plays is a stagehand who is thrust into the role of Florence, the main female lead. She had an astounding performance and did a great job of adding to the chaos.
One audience member, Marianna Garret, traveled from out of town to see the production. Garret said she had seen a shortened version of the show and wanted to come to Bloomington to watch a full version of the play.
“I thought it was wonderful,” she said. “I thought everybody did a great job, the set was great, and it was very enjoyable.”
Another audience member, Bloomington resident Laurie Counsel, said she had seen almost seven different plays at the Waldron Arts Center and this show was as entertaining as the others had been.
“Sometimes you just want to go for a fun laugh, and then that’s what this was,” she said. “I think we’ve all been through bad things in our life where, like these actors, something terribly goes wrong, and you're trying to improvise.”
Due to popular demand, the show has been extended and will be playing at the Waldron Arts Center from March 21 until April 14. The play shows at 2 p.m. on select nights and 7:30 p.m. other nights. Tickets are $38 for adults and $23 for students with an ID. Tickets are going fast and can be found on the Waldron Arts Center website.
