A few years ago the sensational The Play That Goes Wrong was a huge hit around the world with audiences in the West End and Broadway raving about the incredibly comical show.
The original show focussed on the adventures of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society who were staging a production of the 1920’s murder mystery The Murder at Haversham Manor. The side-splitting comedy showed what happens when absolutely everything goes wrong during a live show.
Now the crew are back to stage another show, this time they’re taking on the classic Peter Pan. Their confident that they can nail this one, but we dropped in on the final rehearsals this afternoon and things weren’t going exactly according to plan.
Actor Jay Laga’aia, who has previously starred in everything from Water Rats to Star Wars to Play School, stars as the narrator of the show. Asked how this role compares to those he jokes “This role is probably the closet role I’ve ever done that gets me killed.”
Laga’aia said taking part in the production had been quite an adventure because the actors play actors, and part of their job is also moving all the sets and props too.
The show involves flying props, moving scenery, not to mention Peter Pan flying around uncontrolled on a wire, and the actors have to be very coordinated to make it all work.
“It does coin the phrase ‘organised chaos'” Laga’aia said. “Our job is to make things look like they weren’t set up, but there is a lot of dangerous things going on. It is a joy to hear people slowly keel with laughter, especially the men who just got dragged along to see the show.”
“It’s about 15 minutes into the show when some of them realise ‘oh, wait this is not a pantomime’ and they go ‘hey, was that supposed to happen’. After that it’s on for young and old.
To make sure that nothing goes wrong in Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Laga’aia said the cast have rehearsed contingency plans. “When it does happen we go jazz, we ad-lib on a theme.” he laughed.
“We’ve all been in those situations as performers, or as audience members or even watching our kids perform where we’ve gone ‘Does the Stage Manager know they can be seen?’ or there’s one kids crying at the back of the stage who does not want to go on. It’s reflective of all of the tragedies that go on.”
Peter Pan Goes Wrong opens tonight at His Majesty’s Theatre and runs until 17th March. Tickets and more information available from peterpangoeswrong.com.au
OIP Staff
