Before The Murder at Haversham Manor begins, the newly elected president of Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, Chris Bean, appears on stage to welcome the audience. Bean is also the director of the play and ensures us that this will be the most impressive performance ever put on by this thespian group. However, when this 1920's themed whodunnit is a play within a play called The Play That Goes Wrong, well...it's fair to say that nothing goes according to plan, but the show must go on. And so it does, with many laughs along the way.
While The Murder at Haversham Manor plays out like an Agatha Christie-like plot, The Play That Goes Wrong reveals what happens on the Drama Society stage's as the actors contend with missing items, breaking props, forgotten lines and unconscious colleagues. While comparisons to the classic Noises Off are undeniable, there is still a freshness to the performance with the fun and laughs remaining constant, even if there are a handful of times when they get become slightly repetitive or milked too much.
