PLATTSBURGH — “The Play That Goes Wrong,” directed by Neil Battinelli, is the Adirondack Regional Theatre’s 25th anniversary production the first two weekends in May at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh.
“‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ was a comedy written by a group in England, and they have been performing it at the West End for ten years,” Battinelli said.
“They’ve been performing it in New York City for eight. If other organizations are going to perform or put on a play or a musical, you have to pay for the rights in order to do that show. If the rights are not available, then you can’t perform it.”
About a year ago, the rights for “The Play That Goes Wrong” became available for the first time. It was penned by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company.
“The Play That Goes Wrong is such a popular comedy in London and in NYC, once that became available all the other theater groups around the world are clamoring to do the show,” he said.
“Once we saw that those rights had become available, Tom Lavin of Adirondack Regional Theatre, we got together and said that now is the time to do it. So that was kind of the catalyst for doing this show.”
Battinelli caught the show in White Junction, though he had seen clips online since the production’s 2012 launch.
“I fell in love with it,” he said.
“I read the script, but I finally got to see the show in its entirety a few years ago over in Vermont. Then shortly after, I did go down to NYC to see it there again. I think that was a couple of years ago.”
Two years ago, Battinelli directed “12 Angry Jurors” for ART. He has acted locally with other companies and has directed outside of Clinton County.
“We wanted to do something really special for the 25th anniversary of Adirondack Regional Theatre,” he said.
“Finding somebody crazy enough to direct a show for community theater is hard to come by. So I’m just the right amount of insane to do it.”
CASTING CALL
Battinelli put out the word about the production to his extensive theatrical network.
“Luckily that show has enough recognition that anybody who know it, into theater or performing, knows that it’s a high-quality show and really, really, funny show, and something that they’ve never done before,” he said.
“That garnished attention right out of the gate just mentioning that we were going to do it. We blast out messages on social media about an informational that we did about a year or so ago, kind of talking about the plan.”
Open auditions attracted 30 people for only eight roles.
“The worst part was that a lot of these were my friends. People that I’ve worked with before. That was not a good experience for me. I’m bit of an emotional person to begin with, so having to tell some of my closest and best friends that thanks for coming to audition, but I have to going a different direction. That was not a great experience for me. But, I got over it, and in hindsight, I couldn’t asked for a better cast. The pain was worth it.”
PLAY-WITHIN-A-PLAY
“The Play That Goes Wrong” has a classic premise of a play within a play. The former set in present day, the latter set in the 1920s.
“The show is about a potentially, community theater, a very low budget community theater, maybe a little inept deciding to put on a murder mystery called ‘The Murder of Haversham Manor,’” he said.
“Soon as the show starts, you meet the director and he introduces himself, talks about this great murder mystery that they’re about to put on. and for the first time, we’ve got enough actors for the show. We’ve got a budget where we got this beautiful set. It’s going to be the greatest thing ever. and then the show starts. As soon as the show starts, everything starts to fall apart. Props fall. Actors forget their lines.”
SET DESIGN
The play has an enormous 15 ft. tall set, which features a mansion’s interior, fireplace, downstairs entrance, library, book shelf, and a second-floor study.
“It is huge, but not only all of those different locations, it’s a giant puppet. Behind the stage, we have other actors who you typically don’t see. You know how a play will typically have a stage crew. Usually the stage crew, those in real life behind the scenes, they’re not typically actors. They want to make the things work behind the scenes, but they’re not used to that.”
Battinelli “cast” actors to portray the stage crew.
“They’re the ones that are making all the magic happen,” he said.
“I’ve been saying that the set is a giant puppet. We’ve got props falling. It all seems to be happening by magic. It’s really happening by these actors that you don’t really see, and they’re doing a wonderful job doing it.”
CHALLENGES
Beyond the normal play challenges – learning lines, working with actors, scheduling – set creation was a giant hurdle.
“That not only looked gorgeous, but also fell apart at the end of the show, safely,” he said.
“There are sound effects involved in the show. If you’ve ever done a play or a show that involves sound effects, those can be a challenge because now you have to worry about getting the timing right between the person firing off the sound effect and what’s happening on stage. We got sound effects. We got special effects, and we’ve got lighting.”
In contrast, “12 Angry Jurors” was lighting one room with twelve people and a table.
“We have the lights on, the show went on for two hours, and then the lights go off. Very Simple. With ‘The Play That Goes Wrong,’ there are special effects going on every five minutes.
“There is a second floor that we have to light versus a first floor. The is a special lighting when someone says the word murder. All of a sudden, the whole room turns to red and you hear this dum-dum-dum sound. There is always something happening. It is a whirlwind of a show. It doesn’t let up.”