The Play That Goes Wrong

The Play That Goes Wrong at Spencer Theatre At Kansas City Repertory Theatre

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society has rehearsed a perfectly respectable 1920s whodunit called The Murder at Haversham Manor. They've memorized their lines, built an elegant set, and dressed for a proper theatrical evening. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, as it turns out. The Play That Goes Wrong brings this troupe of hopelessly earnest amateur performers to the Spencer Theatre at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, where their dedication far exceeds their competence. The Murder at Haversham Manor might promise drawing-room intrigue and genteel suspects, but the production collapses into glorious chaos as walls refuse to stay upright, actors forget crucial dialogue, and the murder victim keeps failing to stay convincingly dead. Watching these committed performers scramble to maintain theatrical dignity while their show disintegrates around them creates comedy from pure determination meeting total disaster.

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, this physical comedy transforms a familiar mystery into an unstable theatrical catastrophe. Furniture betrays actors mid-scene. Set pieces develop minds of their own. The amateur company soldiers on, convinced they can salvage their production even as every rescue attempt spawns fresh calamity. Director Stuart Carden stages this collision between theatrical ambition and physical reality for Kansas City Repertory Theatre, where the mayhem unfolds with precision timing disguised as complete accident.

Secure tickets now and watch competence slip brilliantly out of reach.