Zander Eke, Ben Elliott, Scott Bellis, Genevieve Fleming and Andrew McNee in The Play That Goes Wrong, playing at Arts Club\u2019s Granville Island Stage until Aug. 16. (photo from Moonrider Productions)<\/i><\/p>\n
Collapsing sets, misplaced props, missed cues, forgotten lines, unconscious actors, on-stage pyrotechnics, botched entrances and exits, and crew members popping in and out of the wings to deal with technical issues \u2013 what else could possibly go wrong? Apparently quite a lot in the British farce The Play That Goes Wrong<\/i>, now at the Arts Club Granville Island Stage until Aug. 16. This is the Three Stooges meets Monty Python, on steroids. Nonstop laughter is what audiences will receive for the price of their tickets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer, the play had its debut in a London pub in 2012 and quickly moved to the West End, then on to Broadway and elsewhere, winning awards and megafans along the way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a nutshell, in this play within a play, an amateur drama group, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, is presenting a production of The Murder at Haversham Manor<\/i>, a 1920s mystery set in a manor house. In a clich\u00e9d opening, as the curtain rises, a body is found in the study lying on the chaise lounge, and Inspector Carter arrives to investigate. The usual suspects are rounded up (the butler, family members, lovers) and, eventually, after two hours of slapstick physical comedy, with everything breaking and\/or falling down, the perpetrator is unmasked.<\/p>\n Community member Josh Epstein helms this rollercoaster of a comedy with a wealth of veteran actors in the cast, including Scott Bellis (Perkins, the Butler), Andrew McNee (Thomas) and Ben Elliott (Charles, the corpse). This is a technically demanding production requiring tight timing and choreography in the chaos of the disintegrating set, and kudos must be given to the entire team, both on and behind the stage.<\/p>\n The JI<\/i> interviewed Epstein after opening night.<\/p>\n JI:<\/b> How did it come about that you were selected to direct the show?<\/p>\n JE<\/b>: I think my background across a few different worlds landed me here. Producing for\u00a0independent\u00a0film requires a specific kind of precision and technical focus, and mixing that with my experience in big technical theatre and high-speed comedies seemed to be the right recipe. This show is a massive, multi-layered machine,\u00a0and you\u00a0need to understand how all those moving\u00a0parts, the mechanics, the timing and the heart,\u00a0work together.<\/p>\n JI<\/b>: What is it like to direct such a physical production?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n JE<\/b>: Directing this much physicality is like choreographing a high-stakes dance where the floor might actually fall out from under you. We protect the actors through \u201cstunt-grade\u201d preparation, everything from secret padding in the costumes to reinforced gussets and custom-built furniture that takes the hit so the actor doesn\u2019t have to. As for the energy, we keep it fresh by reminding ourselves that we aren\u2019t playing a comedy; we are playing a high-stakes murder mystery. The exhaustion is real, but the medicine is the audience.\u00a0When you hear that level of laughter, it\u00a0fuels the engine for the next round.<\/p>\n JI<\/b>: What are the technical requirements needed to ensure safety on the set?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n JE<\/b>: The safety requirements are immense because the set is effectively the antagonist of the play. It\u00a0has to\u00a0look like\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0failing dangerously while\u00a0being\u00a0under complete, rigorous control behind the scenes. We have built-in redundancies for every major collapse, fail-safes on every moving part, and a crew\u00a0that is\u00a0as finely tuned as the cast. It\u2019s all about creating the illusion of a misstep while being mathematically\u00a0certain of where every foot and hand\u00a0is going to\u00a0land.<\/p>\n JI<\/b>: You are working with some seasoned veterans, all of whom have themselves directed. What is it like to direct directors?<\/p>\n JE<\/b>: Honestly, it\u2019s a gift. Directing directors means you\u2019re working with people who understand the big picture and the architecture of a scene. They aren\u2019t just thinking about their own lines; they\u2019re thinking about the rhythm of the entire stage.\u00a0There is a shorthand and a level of trust\u00a0that allows us to skip the basics and get straight to the nuanced, complicated work. They know exactly how to\u00a0hold\u00a0the tension\u00a0that\u00a0making this show work requires.<\/p>\n JI<\/b>: What was your vision for the show?<\/p>\n JE<\/b>: My vision was to lean into the earnestness of the Cornley drama society. I didn\u2019t want a parody of a bad play; I wanted a\u00a0production of\u00a0a high-budget, ambitious, amateur company that has done everything in its power to be professional, only to have the world conspire against them. The set is beautiful, the costumes are classy and the intentions are pure. The comedy isn\u2019t that they are\u00a0incompetent \u2013 it\u2019s that they are desperate to succeed in the face of\u00a0total disaster.<\/p>\n JI<\/b>: \u00a0Some critics think the show is too over the top. Your thoughts on that?<\/p>\n JE<\/b>: I think over the top is exactly where the joy lives in a piece like this. It is a celebration of the resilience of theatre. There is something deeply human and universal about watching people refuse to give up when everything is going wrong. It\u2019s supposed to be an assault on the senses. If we aren\u2019t pushing the boundaries of the ridiculous, we aren\u2019t doing justice to the spirit of the show.<\/p>\n JI<\/b>: Why should people come and see the play?<\/p>\n JE<\/b>: Because it is pure, unadulterated joy. In a world that often feels quite heavy, there is something incredibly healing about sitting in a room with hundreds of strangers and laughing until your ribs ache. You\u2019re seeing world-class performers do something incredibly\u00a0difficult to make\u00a0it look effortless and disastrous at the same time. It\u2019s a night where you can just leave it all at the door and watch a group of people try, and hilariously fail, to solve a murder.<\/p>\n