The appealing backstory to this production is that it started as a one act play at the Red Lion Theatre in London but has now succeeded in hitting the ‘big time’ as a fully fledged two-hour (with interval) show. Its success is built upon unashamed theatrical schadenfreude. Isn’t it exquisite fun to see others f’ing it up? This harmless interval of silly nonsense will no doubt bring some much-needed light relief from the background anxieties of national and international politics as it crisscrosses the land – a tittering while Rome falls perhaps.

And so it was that the tall and sauve Patrick Warner as the somewhat exasperated Director of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society invited us to enjoy Murder at Haversham Manor, the play within our play. And off we went. ‘Dead’ bodies moved, pictures started to drop off walls, door handles didn’t work, props were mislaid, backstage ‘crew’ were exposed, lines forgotten or mispronounced and lighting failed on cue. Plus, with the addition of some old fashioned knockabout silliness (think Arthur Askey or Buster Keaton) and you had a decent recipe for laughs. The only downside of course was that from the beginning you were expecting all this to happen. Nothing that occurred here was an accident or a surprise, so that the willing suspension of disbelief was a double one, which could have the effect of turning a potentially good laugh into more of a knowing smile at times. But a good ensemble effort mostly kept the absurdity to the max, but I felt the extension to the original show invariably meant some scenes were unnecessarily prolonged, and that our patience was being asked for. Looking for some sort of comparison, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off comes to mind. What Noises does so well is to explore the delightful angst backstage as well as the meltdown on it. I think The Play That Goes Wrong might have enjoyed greater depth had it gone partway down this road, rather than rely solely on onstage mishaps.

The wonderfully attired Edward Judge as Robert (or Thomas Colleymore as he is on stage) was the larger than life rock around which everything seemed to spin tonight, while the vivacious Meg Mortell as Florence Colleymore and Katie Bernstein as ‘stage manager’ Annie Twilloil performed their own mini version of Fight Club hilariously. Perkins the butler (Edward Howells) had the best lines and was at the apex of one of the funniest moments in which his failure to remember the last word of a scene caused the whole ensemble to go on repeat mode. But throughout, Nigel Hook’s collapsing stage always vied for as much attention as the players.   ★★★☆☆    Simon Bishop at Bath Theatre Royal on 11^th January 2017

Photo credit: Helen Murray