As the dismissal bells ring and students rush out of their classrooms into the warmth of their cars or the coziness of their homes, few stay in the silent abyss of the now-empty school. The theater students spend their autumn evenings hard at work rehearsing for their fall play, The Play That Goes Wrong. Opening on November 16, 2023, those involved in the play are blocking their last scene and threading the final touches on costumes.
The Play That Goes Wrong is a play within a play. The show is The Murder at Haversham Manor, a serious, Clue-like murder mystery set in the 1920s. However, over the course of the play, over the course of the play, the actors reach their breaking point as everything falls apart.
“It’s a slapstick comedy, lots of tripping and sword fights. By the end, all of the walls come down from the set, so you’re left there with the blank set. It’s a very, very fun show,” senior stage manager Sam Mund said.
Originating in London’s West End, The Play That Goes Wrong has been a worldwide spectacle since 2012. When the creators recently released the high school version of the play, our school’s theater teacher and director Alani Kravitz jumped at the chance to produce it this year.
“It is not like any play you’ve ever seen. It is the anti-play. It’s like if you went to see another ‘boring’ high school show, but you see everything go wrong. There’s a little bit in all of us that secretly love that,” Kravitz said.
Each performance requires hours of commitment from actors and the crew to memorize, plan, and rehearse. The Play That Goes Wrong is no exception, requiring even more extensive organization from the stage crew and actors to execute special effects.
“It is a very complex and difficult thing to act in a play within a play, and when that play within a play goes wrong, how does that actor react? It’s an extra challenge for them to do that,” Kravitz said.
“For the costumes, we have to make sure that the person can move around in them and we have to make sure that it’s comfortable because there is a lot of falling on the ground. Also, and you have to make sure that the mics are in the right place so they don’t break,” Mund said.
Despite the challenge that this show presents to our school’s theater department, the cast and crew enjoy their time rehearsing more than anything. Through building sets, practicing their lines and sharing meals, they bond during rehearsals.
“We stay here until 8 p.m. after school, so you are with the same people for five hours every day. You eat dinner together, you rehearse together, and even though it’s stressful, it’s very fun,” junior Carson Knowles said.
The hard work that the theater department put into their performance will surely pay off when the show debuts. Make sure to check out the play on November 16, 17 or 18 to support our school’s dedication to every detail of The Play That Goes Wrong. Tickets are $5, and available in the Atrium during lunch and Patriot Period.
