The audience hushed as the lights dimmed. A crash and a yelp of pain could be heard from the dark stage. The lights popped on to reveal a surprised actor, not quite at his spot. The show was about to go� very wrong. This weekend, Westfield High School tackled the hilarious and technically perplexing "The Play That Goes Wrong", and the audience was in for an exciting night.
The show, written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer, follows the Cornley Drama Society in their attempt to put on a production of the "thrilling whodunnit" "The Murder at Haversham Manor." What the poor members of the society are not prepared for, however, is how wrong this show will go. Still, the cast is determined to perform the show through the very last scene because what happens in theater when something doesn't go as planned? The show must go on.
Before the show started, Westfield's production was marketed exceptionally well. The team, led by Kayla Gadley, posted on Instagram and Tiktok and led school events to attract ticket sales. The most creative and interesting utilization of websites was done by creating Spotify playlists for each of the characters and making a BuzzFeed quiz about the show. Through the variety of marketing tactics and the team's hard work, the theater was packed.
TJ Brescia stole the show with the evident care he put into playing his character, Dennis. Dennis was positively clueless but truly tried his best to help the show go well. Dennis missed cues and mispronounced words, but Brescia conveyed that Dennis' heart was in the right place. Genuine frustration and shame crossed his face when his character made an error, even if he wasn't quite aware of what was going on (or wrong) around him. Even small choices that Brescia made, like twitching his mustache, brought the viewers into the show.
Natalie Kattas played Christine, the director of the Drama Society and the Inspector in the play-within-the-play. Throughout the disastrous show, Christine became increasingly more unraveled, revealing her perfectionism and inability to watch the play she directed go wrong. At first, Kattas presented subtle irritation through slight jabs at cast members for making errors. By the end of Act One, Christine's rage was thinly veiled, taking it out on the error-prone set. At the end of the show, it escalated into an onstage nervous breakdown after what seemed like everything that could possibly go wrong, did.
Trevor, the sound technician played by Annabelle DuBard, couldn't care less about the well-being of the production. DuBard mastered the art of active apathy by playing with wigs at the sound table, taking selfies, and missing cues. Trevor's level of disinterest never wavered, not while being thrust into the role of Sandra after two people were knocked unconscious and not while accidentally playing a Justin Bieber song in the middle of the show. While Trevor's behavior was irritating to the other characters onstage, it was a treat to watch.
Even with the terrific acting, the play would not be the same without its special effects (Reanna Vardhanapu, Claire An, Alice Samuel, Lana Johnson). Magnets were utilized in the gags with falling props and curtains, and the team even pulled off the shocking and show-stopping scene where the set walls fell down around the actors.
While the production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor” cost the members of the Cornley Drama Society a successful opening night and possibly their sanity, it produced a hilarious evening at Westfield High School.
Cappies review of the performance of The Play That Goes Wrong (High School Edition) at Westfield High School on Friday, 12/02/2022.