Sopris Theatre does ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’

Sopris Theatre Company at Colorado Mountain College will premier the second show of their 2022-2023 season on Nov. 18 with a slapstick, chaotic and all-together goofy play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields Olivier. “The Play That Goes Wrong” is an award-winning comedy described by Sopris Theatre Company as “a delightful farce” that’s part Monty Python and part Sherlock Holmes; a play within a play where, as the title suggests, everything goes hilariously wrong.

This play within a play takes place in a theater, appropriately, where a cast of characters from the fictional Polytechnic Drama Society are performing “The Murder at Haversham Manor”, a mystery written by the fictional Susie H.K. Brideswell. Audiences can expect a very physical show with a lot of frustrating yet silly moments, depending on your perspective, such as spit-takes, collapsing stage sets and even staged fights gone too far. 

The delightful cast of this production sat down with The Sopris Sun to chat about the rehearsal process and what they are most looking forward to when the curtain rises. This production is being directed by Theatre Operations Manager Bradford Moore and stars several Sopris Theatre alumni, some of whom take on the roles of multiple characters. This includes the talents of Bostyn Elswick as Annie the Stage Director, Joshua Adamson as Chris and Inspector Carter, Michael Banks as Dennis and Perkins and Scott Elmore as Robert and Thomas Colleymoore.

Other talents taking the stage include Delven Bourne in the role of Trevor, the lighting and sound technician, J.D. Edmonds as Jonathan and Charles Haversham, Wyatt Tulk as Max and Cecil Haversham and Julia Whalen as Sandra and Florence Colleymoore.

“I would say the process is just as silly as I expected it to be, if not sillier, and I hope the audience really clings on to the cringe and extreme anxiety that comes from the things that go wrong in this show,” said Adamson.

Moore added to the sentiment that the “wild and crazy” rehearsal process has been very fun overall, while also adhering to a strictly scripted and tightly choreographed production.

“It has been interesting simply because we’re basically rehearsing two shows. We’re rehearsing ‘The Murder at Haversham Manor’ and then, on the meta notion, we’re rehearsing ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’,” Moore told us.

He then explained that this show is a good glimpse into the life of a theater production as it was written by theater people and does a wonderful job of portraying the “organized chaos” that goes on behind the scenes with the cast and crew.

Elswick touched on that idea when she spoke up about her favorite elements of the production.

“[My role] is really fun because in my personal life I haven’t done any behind the scenes work. Usually I’ve only really tried out the acting part. It’s really fun to explore that … This play really brings out those fun aspects and lets everybody see some of the panics we’ve definitely all had as actors at one point or another, and gets to just make it light-hearted,” she said.

Other members of the cast agreed, adding that the theme and main takeaway from a slapstick show like this is that, in theater as in life, things go wrong no matter how hard you try to make them perfect.

To purchase tickets or additional information, visit www.coloradomtn.edu/theater or call the box office at 970-947-8177.