Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG At The Pocket Community Theatre

The performers at The Pocket Community Theatre, 170 Ravine St, in Hot Springs, kept the laughs coming all night long Saturday, April 15, with THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. This play within a play began as you entered the theatre and didn't end until the last piece of the set fell down. We laughed so hard we had tears. Trust me-you don't want to miss this show! They have one more weekend for this performance, Friday the 21st, through Sunday the 23rd, and I advise you to get your tickets online before they sell out.

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG can get a little confusing when trying to explain it, but I will do my best. The Cornley University Drama Society is performing THE MURDER AT HAVERSHAM MANOR. Jonathan Harris' character Charles Haversham (Lewis Sanders) has been murdered, or so it seems, and Inspector Carter, played by Cornley's actor Chris Bean (Justin Breland) is on the scene to find out who committed the murder. It could have been the butler Perkins, played by Cornley's actor Dennis Tyde (David Fleming), who has issues with the big words; It could have been Charles' fiancé Florence Colleymoore, who is played by Cornley's actress Sandra Wilkinson (Autumn Slaght), who gets knocked out and needs to be replaced by the stage manager Annie (Jennifer Horner), who is reading her lines from a book; It could have been Charles' brother Cecil Haversham, who is played by Cornley's Max Bennett (Brian Roberson), who is eating up the audience's applause and exaggerates his character more and more as the show progresses; or it could have been Florence's brother Thomas Colleymoore, who is played by Cornley's Robert Grove (Jason Moore), who is over protective of his sister. Did you get all of that?

This cast and crew cracked me up! The more things started falling apart, the funnier the show became. Seriously, you don't stop laughing the whole time. No matter who you watched, they were doing something absurd. So, with that said, I'll give you a small sample of things that made me laugh. Before the show even starts, Cornley's Light & Sound Operator Trevor (Sean Blakley) is going through the audience looking for their dog Winston (Sparky the Dog) and a Duran Duran CD. Stage Manager Annie is still trying to put the set together and grabs a person from the audience to help. Throughout the show Annie is making faces at her audience member as if some of the shenanigans were her fault. I loved how the lights changed to red every time they mentioned the murder. Roberson's Max was hilarious playing to the audience and being so proud of himself. Also, the fact that he didn't want to actually touch his leading lady Sandra and the way he reacted were great. Watching the guys trying not to fall off of the second floor was hilarious. Fleming's Tyde always checking his hand for the correct words made me giggle. The guy throwing a handful of snow was funny. All of it.....it was all so funny. These group of actors really showed out with this play.

The real star of the show, though, is the set. It was amazing! They had a rotating door for a secret passageway, they may or may not have had an elevator that falls apart, and the second floor balancing on its hinges was crazy! The mantle never stayed on, so a "crew member" held out their arms to place random things on it. Parts of the set kept falling off or went missing consistently throughout the show, and by the end, it had all, basically, collapsed.

Actual Director James Kendall said he saw THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG on Broadway in 2019 and knew he had to bring it to the Pocket Community Theatre, and Broadway World thinks this was a great idea. They did a magnificent job with the whole show.

It is obvious that this show could not be executed without the help of the behind-the-scenes magicians. Crew members include: Assistant Director and Light Design-Thomas Griffin; Producer-Dan Breshears; Stage Manager, Set Design, Costume/Props-Tami Kendall; Sound Tech-Iona Smith; Light Tech-Zoey Lawless; Sound Tech-Christi Day; Stage Crew/Props-Leigh Griffin; Stage Crew-Dallas Yelvington, Kacie Koen, Levi Wilson, and Silas Wilson; Stage Crew/Props/Costumes-Kathryn Lightsey; Props-Brett Blakley.

For information about this show and tickets, visit their website at www.pockettheatre.com.

Broadway World would like to give a big THANK YOU to Artfully Bound Photography for these awesome photos. If you are in the Hot Springs area and need someone for your next event, email them at zeke@artfullyboundphotography.com.