In case you missed the casting call for sadists, gloaters, Debbie Downers and those who relish schadenfreude (the joy of watching others fail), Lamb’s Players Theatre is now accepting audience members of similar persuasion for, “The Play That Goes Wrong.”
Lamb’s upcoming production is a post-modern meta-narrative about a theater company attempting to put on an Agatha Christie-style performance of a murder mystery, but – you guessed it – everything goes wrong. Written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer, the play first premiered in London in 2012 and has since won several prestigious awards, done multiple tours, and completed a stint on Broadway from 2017 to 2019.
Robert Smyth is co-directing the play with Jordan Miller, an expert in stunt work who calls this play the toughest production he’s ever been a part of. Miller’s avatar in the play is Chris Bean, the director of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, who’s in charge of putting on a production of the fictional whodunit,“The Murder at Haversham Manor.” Bean also serves as the director, costume designer, and prop maker, among other things, as he gets a front row seat to his disaster of a show.
“This is a beast of a play,” Miller said. “It is a very specific, very detailed, well-oiled machine. You do exactly what the script says because they figured it all out. Going into it I knew it was going to be a very difficult process. And you can say we method acted this play in real time with the things that keep going wrong.”
Miller is joined by an eight-person cast, including Mike Sears, Caitie Grady, Walter Murray and Lamb’s regular, Spencer Gerber. Miller’s thorough experience as an actor and stunt worker is what leads him to describe himself as an actor’s director.
“I call myself an actor’s director because I know what the actor goes through,” Miller said. “I know what the process is, and the pressures that are often put on them, both fairly and unfairly. When I break down a play, and break down a character, I’m able to do so with the actor’s craft, and not just with the cinematic big picture. I know how to break down each and every minutiae moment of the play.”
According to Miller, he is responsible for the stunts, blocking, and executing the meticulously detailed choreography, while Smyth handles the big picture components like pacing, cohesion, and scene setting. That division of responsibility might leave you wondering why the play has two directors, rather than just a director and a stunt coordinator, but according to Miller, the show’s ambitious theatrics necessitate two full-time directors. “Every 60 seconds there’s some stunt or movement,” Miller said. “It’s been a journey and it will continue to be a journey all the way to opening.”
Problems for production began almost as soon as rehearsals started, Miller explained. From the beginning, the play had to be re-adapted to the configurations of Lamb’s stage. “The only real concept challenge we had was that the show is built around a completely flat presentational kind of theater, and the Lamb’s space is almost an ‘in-the-round’ experience, where the audience is looking down at the stage.” Miller said. “That was something we had to work on, but our design directors, Amanda and Nate Peirson, that was their problem. Once the set was built it became my problem to keep the actors safe on it.”
Despite the challenges, Miller attests that those difficulties are derived from the show’s exceptional design.
“It’s like staging Mozart; you don’t make up your own ornamentations,” he said. “He wrote the song perfectly, just sing the notes. That’s where I approached it from the choreographer’s stand-point. I’m working with actors to see if this choreography works on their bodies, and if it doesn’t, how do I either help them figure it out or what do I do alternatively to get the same event?”
As opening night approaches, Miller asks himself if he would produce this play again. “My initial instinct is, ‘Absolutely not.’” he said. “I did it, I’m done, but the real answer is ‘Absolutely,’ because I’ve learned so much about how to direct and stage the show. Now that I’ve done it, I wish I could go back and make the process even more seamless and easy for all the actors involved. Someone asked me, ‘What’s the hardest show you’ve ever directed?’ and my first response was, ‘This one. By far.’ Before that it was ‘Noises Off,’ but this show makes ‘Noises Off’ look like a youth theater one-act.”
Despite the challenges of putting on this production, Miller said he was proud of his work, his team, and their execution of the show.
“Looking at it now and seeing all the pieces coming together, it is going to be an absolutely fantastic production. The audiences are going to go crazy when they see it.”
“The Play That Goes Wrong” is running through June 7. Performances take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays through Saturdays, with 2 p.m. matinees available on Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets range from $38 to $108, with discounts available for seniors over 66, veterans, and active duty military. Buy tickets at www.lambsplayers.org
