Bring the family to see the hilarious Brit farce “The Play that Goes Wrong” at the Oriental Theatre December 4-16 and stay at the nearby and affordable Chicago Lake Shore Hotel!
“The Play that Goes Wrong” has been playing in Lindon’s West End since 2014. If you like slapstick, this is your play. Shakespeare is nowhere to be seen.
Before the play starts the audience see the backstage staff doing last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantlepiece, and to find a dog that has run off.
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, fresh from such hits as The Lion and The Wardrobe, Cat, and James and the Peach or James, Where’s your Peach? (no money for witches, cat(s) or giants), has received a substantial bequest and is putting on a performance of “The Murder at Haversham Manor” – a 1920s murder mystery play ala Agatha Christie, which has the right number of parts for the members. During the production a plethora of disasters befall the cast, including doors sticking, props falling from the walls, and floors collapsing.
Cast members are seen misplacing props, forgetting lines and cues, breaking character, mispronouncing words, being hidden in a grandfather clock, and being manhandled off stage, with one cast member being knocked unconscious and her replacement (and the group technician) refusing to yield when she returns. The climax is a tribute to a scene in Buster Keaton’s film “Steamboat Bill Jr. (look it up, kids),” when virtually the whole of the remaining set collapses.
The Oriental Theatre is located at 24 West Randolph Street in Chicago’s Loop. For tickets, go online to https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/2503699?brand=bicartist and follow the prompts.
Make your “The Play that Goes Wrong” experience more enjoyable by staying at the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel, in historic Hyde Park. Chicago Lake Shore offers free shuttle bus service to and from the Loop area and is close to bus and train services. The Lake Shore Café offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. AND Jazz and seafood buffet (non-seafood items available) Friday nights.