Review: Strong cast keeps the laughs rolling in ‘The Play That Goes Wrong'
With a name like “The Play That Goes Wrong,” there’s not a great deal of surprise for the audience at Lamb’s Players Theatre when the play they’re watching immediately goes off the rails.
What is a surprise is how catastrophically wrong this murder-mystery will go over the next two hours. Keeping up that momentum, whimsy and what-will-happen-next suspense is hard, but it looks easy at Lamb’s under the direction of Robert Smyth and assistant director/choreographer Jordan Miller.
“The Play That Goes Wrong” requires a tight ensemble of eight actors, so it’s a good choice for Lamb’s, which has specialized in ensemble work over the past 55 years. Some of San Diego’s most versatile and hardest-working actors are assembled in the “Play Goes Wrong” cast, and they balance and support each other well.
Similar in style to Michael Frayn’s play-within-a-play “Noises Off,” the 2012 British farce “The Play That Goes Wrong” is about a community theater production that falls apart before the audiences’ eyes. In “Noises Off,” the audience sees the mishaps happening both onstage and behind the scenes. In “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the humor is in how the cast exhaustively improvises and collaborates in show-must-go-on style to make it to the final bows.
Brian Mackey leads the cast as Chris, the head of the low-budget Cornley Drama Society, which is putting on a performance of the 1926 mystery drama “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” Mackey also plays, with slow-building exasparation, police inspector Carter, who’s investigating the murder of Charles Haversham at the family home.
A second murder will take place, a secret love affair is revealed and a financial scheme will be exposed. But the real story in “Wrong” is how the Cornley Drama Society actors find ways to carry on as cues are missed, lines are forgotten, props break and disappear, actors get injured and the scenery seriously malfuctions.
Mike Sears, who San Diegans know best for dramatic roles, shows his serious comic chops as Thomas Colleymore, best friend to the murdered Charles, who is amusing played by the gifted physical comedian Bryan Banville. Geno Carr is also a standout as the Haversham butler Perkins, who manages to keep a stiff upper lip no matter what mayhem occurs around him.
Rachael VanWormer also gives a terrific and high-energy performance as Florence, Charles’ grieving fiancée. Caitie Grady is a scene-stealer as Annie, the Cornley stage manager who steps in for an ailing actor and relishes the spotlight. Spencer Gerber intentionally hams it up as the applause-loving Cornley actor who plays both Charles’ brother Cecil and Haversham Manor’s gardener Arthur.
Completing the cast as Cornley’s seen-it-all-and-no-longer-cares stage technician is Walter Murray in a fun deadpan performance.
Amanda Quivey’s handsome two-story manor scenic design is filled with hidden surprises. Jemima Dutra designed costumes, Taylor Olson designed lighting, Deborah Gilmour Smyth designed sound and Jessica Couto designed props.
“The Play That Goes Wrong” is more than a funny show to watch. It’s a celebration of the passionate people who give their all for live theater.
‘The Play That Goes Wrong’
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through June 7
Where: Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado
Tickets: $48-$98
Phone: 619-437-6000
Online:lambsplayers.org
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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 3:43 PM.