MIDLAND As the title will suggest, it’s a play where everything goes wrong.
While everything doesn’t go according to plan, audiences should find plenty to enjoy in Midland Community Theatre’s upcoming production.
“The Play That Goes Wrong” will run from April 26-May 11 with productions taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 28.
Tickets can be purchased online at tinyurl.com/3uw5mz2v.
The director of this comedy production is Jane Moore.
“This show, surprisingly, was very easy to put together and it seems like from day one, when we were rehearsing and reading scripts, we began laughing and we have not stopped laughing since then,” Moore said. “Mostly, I’m excited to see the audience’s reactions to everything that goes on.”
In the play, the accident-prone Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society embark on producing an ambitious 1920s murder mystery.
They are delighted that neither casting issues nor technical hitches currently stand in their way.
That is, until hilarious disaster ensues and the cast start to crack under the pressure with the challenge of having to get the production back on track before the final curtain falls.
“It’s a group of English college students who are putting on a play and they’ve had a lot of trouble of trying to get enough people to go to their plays and get costumes corrected for it,” Moore said while describing the show. “Finally, they have succeeded at that. This is the result of their success. They unfortunately, have not succeeded quite as well as they thought they had and everything goes wrong.”
Most plays at MCT have only six weeks to get ready but the cast and crew for this show have had two extra weeks to prepare.
“We were lucky with this production,” Moore said. “Normally, a production here rehearses for six weeks but we had eight. Once you see the play, you will understand why we needed those two extra weeks.”
In this particular show, the backstage crew is also a part of the show, an integral part at that.
“We began rehearsing with them since day one,” Moore said of the backstage crew. “In fact, I made them audition as well. The one thing I told the cast is to please understand that this is a very physical show.”
With so many forms of physical comedy in the show, Moore said it was a challenge to make sure no one gets hurt.
“People fall down,” Moore said. “People get hit. There is a sword fight. Platforms don’t stay in place. People go in and out of the clock. Doors don’t always work so they go in and out of the window. People get knocked out. There’s all kinds of stuff that happens.”
There are 14 people total in the cast and crew.
Among them is Justin Tate, who’s a regular at MCT and plays the role of Cecil and Arthur.
“Cecil is the brother of the man who is the center of the murder mystery,” Tate said. “Arthur is the gardener who works at the mansion.”
Tate has been doing shows at MCT since he was eleven years old and has done “dozens of shows” since then and has enjoyed being a part of this production.
“Everybody is funny,” Tate said of the cast and crew members. “It’s fun to be around funny people and people who are committed to figuring out the best way to make people laugh. That’s always a fun process to figure out how to get the perfect way to make laugh.”
Sumayah Hamam plays the role of Annie who is a backstage member.
“She’s the stage manager and she tries to make sure everything is going well and correctly and smoothly,” Hamam said. “Although, as you can tell from the title, that’s not exactly the case. She’s not a relaxed person and is stressing about a lot of things.”
Hamam echoed Tate’s thoughts on why she has enjoyed being a part of this play.
“The people are funny and that’s one of my favorite things,” Hamam said. “It’s a light-hearted show and it’s funny. It’s the laughs and the joy that I get. Everyone is tired and happy afterwards. We have a good group to work with.”
For more information on the play, go to mctmidland.org.
If you go
- What: “The Play That Goes Wrong.”
- When: 7:30 p.m. April 26, 7:30 p.m. April 27, 2:30 p.m. April 28, 7:30 p.m. May 3, 7:30 p.m. May 4, 7:30 p.m. May 10, 7:30 p.m. May 11.
- Where: Midland Community Theatre.
- Where to purchase tickets: tinyurl.com/3uw5mz2v
