Hatboro-Horsham’s Theater Department performed the comic farce The Play That Goes Wrong Dec. 4–6, drawing packed houses and praise for a technically ambitious staging.
The show follows the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s production of “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” Ironically, as the show goes on, the cast and crew’s worst nightmare comes true: everything that could go wrong, goes wrong! The set falls apart, props break, cast members forget their lines and crew members take over for the cast after they get hit by doors.
With this being one of the most complex shows that HHTD has produced, each and every move had to be made with extreme precision, ensuring that each intentional blunder was sold with authenticity. In fact, Stage crew supervisor Mr. Milton Kunz called the show an “ambitious” production. Performing the full Broadway version on a high school stage, the company staged more than 30 gags, including falling walls, a collapsing platform and numerous moving parts.
The HHTD staff worked together to plan how the set would look and how it would function while keeping the actors safe. Set Designer Mr. Jarrett Bruckner created the blueprint of the set, and shortly after, the build crew got to work.
The show also featured many references to “big don’ts” in theater.
“You would never normally block someone to upstage someone else during a process, but we did it on purpose in some portions. Nick Mahaffy had a lot of times when he would upstage other characters while they had lines because in his brain, his character was someone that forgot his lines sometimes and his blocking was a little bit funky, so purposefully we had him upstaging characters to enhance his being forgetful with the collective of his role,” said Assistant Director Ms. Amanda Piergallini.
The show was a major success with a packed house each night. Audiences loved the comedic performances by the cast and loved the hard work of the crew. Both teams worked together to create an amazing weekend of shows, and members of the cast and crew are looking forward to HHTD’s spring show, Legally Blonde.
