The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College to perform the comedy ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’
From left, Han Do, Matthew Tavianini, Justin Davanzo and McKenna Kline portray members of a horrible theater company in “The Play That Goes Wrong.” The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College comedy opens with preview shows Wednesday and Thursday before its regular
run Friday through Oct. 29.
The show must go on.
Even if everything goes wrong on a stage with accident-prone actors who make blunders, forget their lines and are just really, really bad on an opening night.
That’s the premise of “The Play That Goes Wrong,” which director Saundra McClain describes as a cross between “Monty Python” and Sherlock Holmes.
The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College is performing the comedy about a horrible group of actors at the college’s Garvin Theatre, 721 Cliff Drive.
Written by Henry Shields, Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer, the play opens with preview performances Wednesday and Thursday, and its regular run is Friday through Oct. 29.
The story is set in 1922. It’s the opening night of the Cornley University Drama Society’s newest production, “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” and the actors are determined to perform a play despite a series of mishaps.
The cast features Amir Keyhan Almir, Justin Davanzo, Han Do, Tyler Gilbert, McKenna Kline, Isaac Lewis, Will Muse, Nicholis Sheley, CJ Smith and Matthew Tavianini.
“The actors are playing two or three characters,” Ms. McClain told the News-Press. “You have to be conscious of the character you’re supposed to be on the stage and the character you’re playing at the same time (in ‘The Murder at Haversham Manor’), and when one character intrudes on the other. The actors playing (‘The Murder at Haversham Manor’) characters break character when things go wrong.”
“You have your stereotype stock actors, like the actor who has never been on stage before, the actor who can’t remember his lines, the diva, the classically trained actor,” Ms. McClain said. “Those are the stock characters. Then there are the characters they’re playing.”
And when these stereotypical actors portray “The Murder at Haversham Manor” characters, they go wonderfully over the top, Ms. McClain said. “It’s slapstick. It’s a farce.”
“It’s being put on a theater company that’s more like a community theater group in a small town, so to speak,” Ms. McClain said. “They don’t have a lot of money. The actors are very local. They might have a couple of actors who may have come from out of town. They’re not supposed to be the best actors.”
They lack talent but have no lack of plain bad luck, with one thing after another going wrong on opening night.
“The whole theme of the play is the show must go on, as they try to overcome these mishaps and get to the end of the play,” she said. “They are determined. They won’t let anything stop them.”
email: dmason@newspress.com
FYI
The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College will perform “The Play That Goes Wrong” Oct. 12-29 at the college’s Garvin Theatre, 721 Cliff Drive. The curtain will rise at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 and 13 for the preview shows. After that, the regular performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The Oct. 16 matinee will be live-captioned for the hearing-impaired.Tickets cost $18 for general admission, $15 for seniors and City College staff, and $10 for students for the Oct. 12 and 13 preview shows. After that, admission is $24 to $26 for general admission, $19 to $21 for seniors and $14 to $17 for students. To purchase, go to www.theatregroupsbcc.com or call the Garvin box office at 805-965-5935.
Masks are required inside the theater. For those 5 and older, the Theatre Group requires proof of vaccination (paper or digital) or a negative COVID test.
