Gunn Theater took center stage in the Little Theater with Henry Lewis, Jonathon Sayer and Henry Shields’ “Play that Goes Wrong” on Oct. 27 and 28 and Nov. 1-4.
The play follows the Cornley Drama Society’s opening night of “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” an English whodunit set in 1922. While the group initially believes that they are ready to take on this complex production, nothing in the play-within-a-play seems to be going right — from the misplaced props to the constant fainting to the actors who trip over everything from set pieces to their lines.
Senior Chania Rene-Corail played the character of Annie, the stage manager. The increased intensity of the blocking and choreography was a new experience for her.
“Mariam and I worked through those (fight) scenes since the beginning of the rehearsal process just to make sure that we were always safe,” Rene-Corail said. “It is very intense. I come out of every show feeling like a truck hit me or I just worked out for 100 hours, but it’s always super worth it. After we got the movements down, we added our own things — like the screaming — and just our own passion to it.”
Junior Zander Rosenzweig also enjoyed getting to explore the slapstick elements in his role as Jonathan, who plays Charles Haversham.
“My favorite part was definitely the physical comedy aspects of it,” he said. “I got spat on, I got sat on, I got my pants pulled down and everything bad happens to me. That’s just been a really fun experience — to see what it’s like to be just completely beaten up on stage.”
While those physical aspects — alongside the many other unconventional parts of this production — were unexpected for senior Mariam Kubursi, who took on the role of Sandra playing Florence Colleymoore, the dynamic with the audience provided a unique experience.
“The show is so focused on the intimacy with the audience, and that’s something I really, really appreciate,” she said. “The audience is part of the play, so we’re relying on them a lot of the time, and it’s just been a real experience. I am so happy to have people laugh at me as if I’m a real person on stage versus just a character on stage, because the whole point is that we go in and out of our real life.”
Director Kristen Lo also appreciated getting to see all the different fighting and physical comedy elements come together.
“I love watching the last seven pages of the script because it was the most complicated thing to put together,” she said. “Everybody has their own track of how they have to move around the stage, and the fight between the ladies is going on the whole time. (It) has to be safe, and it has to be real, and you have to believe they’re mad at each other. It’s been growing every time, but all of (the) guys on stage have to know their lines and not be distracted. So when I see them do that every night, I’m overwhelmed with pride for what they have created on stage.”
